Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev

Book Blurb:

All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.

She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.

She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.

That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Great cover artwork? Check. Interesting premise? Check. Support of a major new writer of a similar book? Check. Mantchey's novel is set for take-off. Seriously. Even Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games) has been quoted as supporting it.

Thanks to Peta for sending us a brand new hardcover version of this book. It's obvious that she is getting really good at identifying great new books for young adult readers. The girls are going to love this. Well, as soon as I pass it on to them. LOL

Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

Amazon Book Description:

In the sensational sequel to "Poison Study" and "Magic Study", Yelena's apprenticeship is over - now her real test has begun. When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder - able to capture and release souls - spreads like wildfire, people grow uneasy. Already Yelena's unusual abilities and past have set her apart. As the Council debates Yelena's fate, she receives a disturbing message: a plot is rising against her homeland, led by a murderous sorcerer she has defeated before. Honour sets Yelena on a path that will test the limits of her skills, and the hope of reuniting with her beloved spurs her onward. Her journey is fraught with allies, enemies, lovers and would-be assassins, each of questionable loyalty. Yelena will have but one chance to prove herself - and save the land she holds dear.

Sounds great, doesn't it? This will be a big hit with the students are into myth/science fiction like LOTR and the Narnia books. Thanks again to Peta for buying this book for us and sending it all the way from the UK. With so many incredible books, I'm not sure what to read first.

The Study Series by Maria V. Snyder

First of all, let me just say, check out the artwork on these novels! Wow! All three books have such beautiful covers that they suck you right in. As soon as I saw these three books I said, "I've got to read these!" Then I checked the blurbs and they make the books sound very interesting too. I can't wait to put these on display in SRR. Anybody interested? Waitlist in the comment section!

Thanks again to Peta for buying us this great set of books!!!

Amazon Description of Magic Study:
Completing her apprenticeship could prove deadly...With an execution order on her head, Yelena has no choice but to escape to Sitia, the land of her birth. With only a year to master her magic - or face death - Yelena must begin her apprenticeship and travels to the Four Towers of the Magician's Keep.But nothing in Sitia is familiar. Not the family to whom she is a stranger. Not the unsettling new facets of her magic. Nor the brother who resents her return. As she struggles to understand where she belongs and how to control her rare powers, a rogue magician emerges - and Yelena catches his eye.Suddenly she is embroiled in battle of good against evil. And once again it will be her magical abilities that will either save her life...or be her downfall.

Amazon Description of Poison Study:
Choose: A quick death...or a slow poison...About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She'll eat the best meals, have rooms in the palace - and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia. And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly's Dust - and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonising death from the poison. As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can't control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren't so clear...

Catching Fire is HERE!

This could be the best book of the year and now it is here in Brunei!

Those of you who are following my blog know that Stephenie Meyer, the writer of the Twilight Saga, wrote in her blog that she highly recommended that people read Suzanne Collins' book Hunger Games. I took her advice and loved the first book. Luckily for us, Scholastic offered it up earlier this year so a lot of girls were able to get copies. My copy has been floating around 5B for about three months now too!

I was just about to order my copy of the book as I knew it was supposed to come available in September. Imagine my shock when it arrived from bookdepository last week!!! I was shocked. How could that be?

You guessed it: Peta. Peta, our book angel, has been following the blog and knew we were anxiously awaiting the release of this book. She also is one of the few people on the planet, I think, who figured out that bookdepository changed their stock to "available" about ten days before Amazon was scheduled to start shipping. Anyway, the rest is history!

Thanks Peta! Your generosity is amazing!

I'll be reading this one in the next few days and then I'll post my review. For now, if anybody wants to waitlist for this book (and I know you do), please just add a comment to this post.

More Books

Book lovers are the best!
I'm totally amazed at the generosity of people around the world who send us books and to those wonderful individuals who agree to send us their books in spite of the high costs of shipping. In many cases the cost of shipping is the same as the value of the book being sent! Incredible.

I'm getting so many books each week I can no longer salute each book with an entry here on the blog. Many thanks to our kind donors. Please feel free to continue sending notes and postcards along with your books! That is an extra special personal touch and will create even more interest in the books you send us. Besides, it's so fun to tell the girls where the books are coming from. They are like little visitors from countries all over the world!

My hat goes off to Peta again. Her generosity knows no bounds. Last week she sent us six brand new, never read, books. Unbelievable! In the coming week, assuming I have time, I will highlight some of them here on the blog as I believe they are wonderful selections and they deserve a bit of attention before being set loose on the SRR shelves.

As well, I'd like to just note a few of the incredible new books that have just arrived:

We have four new Nicholas Sparks hardcovers from Cosette in the USA: True Believer, A Bend in the Road, At First Sight, and The Wedding! These are beautiful books and will be well-loved by all the Sparks fans.

We also got a hardcover version of Cecelia Ahern's If You Could See Me Now from Chelsea in the USA. Ahern is one of the most popular authors for young women and the girls in my classes won't be able to keep their hands off this one!

Some of the special requests have come in: How to Deal by Sarah Dessen, She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, and The Freedom Writer's Diary by the Freedom Writers.

We have also received a hardcover of Meg Cabot's Ready or Not from Caitlin in the USA as well as two copies of Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me? and one of the large paperback versions of Shopaholic and Sister!

There are so many other amazing books I've received as well. I just wish I had time to list them all! The Goosebumps collection is well on its way as is the collection of Madison Finn books and more Chicken Soup books.