Weekly Highlights: the mostly-gift edition

Weekly Highlights is a feature borrowed from Faye of A Daydreamer's Thoughts, where I get to highlight my posts of the week, show you my new books and talk about bookish things! 

On and Around The Blog

Review of Geekhood by Andy Robb (4 stars)
Review of Skulk by Rosie Best (5 stars)

I don't do this very often, mostly because I forget to make note of the cool posts I've read, but this one I had to make an exception for! Faye of A Daydreamers Thoughts is hosting an event in November to help us all tackle our piles of Netgalley books and I think it's a great idea! I've signed up and a whole lot of others have too. Here is the post where Faye tells us all about it and don't forget to sign up!

Currently Reading

Nearly finished Hopeless by Colleen Hoover - I'm getting near the Big Secret and I have a horrible feeling I know what it is and I don't want to be right! I'm also reading Scarlet by AC Gaughen, which is a bit slow to get into but still very interesting. 

On My Bookshelf

The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher
Emily’s dad is accused of murdering a teenage girl. Emily is sure he is innocent, but what happened that night in the woods behind their house where she used to play as a child? Determined to find out, she seeks out Damon Hillary the enigmatic boyfriend of the murdered girl. He also knows these woods. Maybe they could help each other. But he’s got secrets of his own about games that are played in the dark.

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin
Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship.But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It's a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after…

These three are hand-me-downs from Sophie. I am especially looking forward to Because It Is My Blood, and I'm going to the book launch of The Killing Woods on Wednesday so need to read that asap! Thanks Sophie, you are, as always, amazing!

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

It's 1996 and very few high school students have ever used the internet. Facebook will not be invented until several years in the future. Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD. She and her best friend Josh power it up and log on - and discover themselves on Facebook in 2011. Everybody wonders what they'll be like fifteen years in the future. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

Swapped this with Lucy (Queen of Contemporary) for Witch Crag - I am really excited about this one, sounds very cool! Thanks Lucy!

How To Love by Katie Cotungo
This is a love story. But it’s not what you think. This is not a first kiss, or a first date. This is not love at first sight. This is a boy and a girl falling in messy, unpredictable, thrilling love. This is the complicated route to happiness that follows. This is real. This is life. This is how to love.

BEFORE: Reena has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember. But he’s never noticed her, until one day… he does. They fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town, leaving a devastated – and pregnant – Reena behind.

AFTER: Three years later and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter Hannah. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer again?

Really like the sound of this one, we need more realistic love stories. Thank you Quercus!

The Mad Scientists Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke
"Cat, this is Finn. He's going to be your tutor".

He looks, and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task now is to tutor Cat. As she grows into a beautiful young woman, Finn is her guardian, her constant companion... and more. But when the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot population, however, Fin struggles to find his place in the world.

Angry Robot has re-released a bunch of their old titles on Netgalley and I had to have this one! Angsty robot in love? Yes please!

Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman
Something is wrong in Aquae Sulis, Bath’s secret mirror city.
The new season is starting and the Master of Ceremonies is missing. Max, an Arbiter of the Split Worlds Treaty, is assigned with the task of finding him with no one to help but a dislocated soul and a mad sorcerer. There is a witness but his memories have been bound by magical chains only the enemy can break. A rebellious woman trying to escape her family may prove to be the ally Max needs.

But can she be trusted? And why does she want to give up eternal youth and the life of privilege she’s been born into?

Another reprint, as it were, by Angry Robot. I hadn't seen this first time round but I like the sound of it, if only just because it's set in Bath!