Library Loot (42) & a review copy

Sorry for the poor quality photo. I wanted to show the proof cover of Ally Carter's I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You:


Library

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
(fantasy's not really my usual fare but I've heard such good things about the lead character)
In a world where people born with an exceptional skill, known as a Grace, are feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises: the Grace of killing. She lives under the command of her Uncle Randa, King of the Middluns, and is expected to carry out his dirty work, punnishing and torturing anyone who displeases him. Breaking arms and cutting off fingers are her stock-in-trade. Finding life under his rule increasingly unbearable Katsa forms an underground Council, whose purpose is to combat the destructive behavior of the seven kings - after all, the Middluns is only one of the seven kingdoms, and each of them is ruled its own king with his own personal agenda for power. When the Council hears that the King of Liend's father has been kidnapped Katsa investigates . . . and stumbles across a mystery. Who would want to kidnap him, and why? And who was the extraordinary Graced fighter who challenged her fighting skills, for the first time, as she and the Council rushed the old man to saftey? Something dark and deadly is rising in the north and creeping across the continent, and behind it all lurks the shadowy figure of a one eyed king . . .

Savannah Grey by Cliff McNish
It's a difficult time for fifteen-year-old Savannah Grey - she's settled into her latest foster placement, but her body is acting strangely. Then other strange things begin to happen: nature, it seems, is exerting an overpowering force on the world. Birds behave erratically; gusts of wind blow leaves so fiercely they seem to lure people away. And Savannah discovers she has supernatural powers. Meanwhile, she feels drawn to the new boy Reece whose life is even stranger than hers. Quickly Savannah and Reece realise that nature has a purpose for them both. For they are on course to meet the vile and evil Ocrassa, who wants to destroy the world by corrupting nature. And it wants Savannah Grey to help realise its savage intent.

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
It's springtime at St. Vladimir's Academy and Rose is close to graduation, but since making her first Strigoi kills, things haven't felt quite right. She's having dark thoughts, behaving erratically, and worst of all . . . might be seeing ghosts. Consumed by her forbidden love with her tutor Dimitri and protecting her best friend, the Moroi princess Lissa, Rose is in no state to see the deadly threat that will change her entire world - and make her choose between the two people she loves most.

plus I forgot to photograph this one:

Distant Waves by Suzanne Weyn
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Taylor sisters of Spirit Vale are ready to spread their wings. After growing up in a small town where people are more interested in talking to the dead, the girls are eager to experience a wider, brighter, more exciting world. While Mimi is drawn into high society, Jane finds herself involved with two men who will change her life dramatically - although in very different ways. When reunited with the younger three on board the Titanic, the sisters prepare for the voyage of a lifetime without realising their futures hang in the balance.




Review

This came completely out of the blue and I'm so pleased. I've been eyeing up the US edition for a while. I loved Alias and read some of the tie-in books.

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (6 May UK)
Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses – but it’s really a school for spies. Cammie Morgan is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways (three of which involve a piece of uncooked spaghetti). But the one thing the Gallagher Academy hasn’t prepared her for is what to do when she falls for an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl.

Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, and track him through a mall without his ever being the wiser, but can Cammie have a normal relationship with a boy who can never know the truth about her?