Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson
From Publishers – Simon and Schuster
Release Date – 1st Sept 2011

Check it out at Goodreads | The Book Depository | Kobo

17-year-old Lila has two secrets she’s prepared to take to the grave. The first is that she can move things just by looking at them. The second is that she’s been in love with her brother’s best friend, Alex, since forever. After a mugging exposes her unique ability, Lila decides to run to the only people she can trust – her brother and Alex. They live in Southern California where they work for a secret organisation called The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who murdered her mother five years before. And that they’ve found them. In a world where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realises that she is not alone – there are others out there just like her – people with special powers -and her mother’s killer is one of them…

My Thoughts: Hunting Lila, Sarah Alderson’s debut novel has it all – paranormal themes, mystery, action and the all important romance.

Hunting Lila is fast paced and very easy to read in one sitting, once you get started you just can’t put it down. I really enjoyed reading from Lila’s point of view and discovering what she discovers as she does. Lila knows she is different, but she has kept it a secret and when things get tough she runs to her brother and his best friend for comfort only to discover that they have a secret of their own.

I thought the relationship between Alex and Lila was really well written. The relationship was built up slowly and realistically and had me swooning.

I am eagerly awaiting the sequel, Losing Lila due out in 2012 and would recommend Sarah’s debut novel to any fan of the Young Adult genre.

About the Author: Having spent most of her life in London, Sarah quit her job in the non profit sector in 2009 and took off on a round the world trip with her husband and princess-obsessed daughter on a mission to find a new place to call home. After several months in India, Singapore, Australia and the US, they settled in Bali where Sarah now spends her days writing by the pool and drinking lots of coconuts.

She finished her first novel Hunting Lila just before they left the UK, wrote the sequel on the beach in India, and had signed a two book deal with Simon & Schuster by the time they reached Bali.

A third book, Fated, about a teenage demon slayer, which was written during their stay in California, will be published in January 2012 by Simon Pulse (an imprint of Simon & Schuster).

She is currently working on sequels to both series of books.

Have you read this book yet? Leave a comment letting me know what you think!

I have another 5 books to read this week, my pile is slowly growing and growing and the books are coming in quicker than I can read them :)

This week I got:

Fury by Elizabeth Miles
Fury Series #1
From Publishers – Simon and Schuster
Release Date – 1st Sept 2011

Check it out at Goodreads | The Book Depository

In book one of the Fury trilogy, Em Winters and Chase Singer discover that a little guilt isn’t the only consequence of doing wrong. After Em hooks up with her best friend’s boyfriend and Chase’s secret harassment of a social outcast spirals out of control, three mysterious Furies-paranormal creatures that often assume the form of beautiful women-come to town to make sure that Em and Chase get what they deserve. Not everyone will survive-and those who do will discover there are worse punishments than death. But when Em befriends outcast Drea and learns more about who and what the Furies really are, she becomes resolved above all to take them down and stop their plans. Little does Em know that, by confronting the Furies, she could become inextricably bound to them for life.

Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson
From Publishers – Simon and Schuster
Release Date – 1st Sept 2011

Check it out at Goodreads | The Book Depository

17-year-old Lila has two secrets she’s prepared to take to the grave. The first is that she can move things just by looking at them. The second is that she’s been in love with her brother’s best friend, Alex, since forever. After a mugging exposes her unique ability, Lila decides to run to the only people she can trust – her brother and Alex. They live in Southern California where they work for a secret organisation called The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who murdered her mother five years before. And that they’ve found them. In a world where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realises that she is not alone – there are others out there just like her – people with special powers -and her mother’s killer is one of them…

Wolf Blood by NM Browne
From Publishers – Bloomsbury
Release Date – 1st Sept 2011

Check it out at Goodreads | The Book Depository

A Celtic warrior girl is held captive and enslaved by a rival tribe. When fever takes her only friend she knows she must escape, but she runs straight into the path of two Roman foot soldiers. Thinking they will kill a warrior instantly, the girl disguises herself as a beggar and asks to share their fire. Using her gift as a seer she discovers that one of the soldiers is not what he seems. Celtic blood courses through his veins too, but there is something else. He is a shapeshifter – a Versipellum. He shares his soul with that of the wolf.

The girl needs to reach the leader of her dead friend’s tribe, and the boy must escape the Romans before they discover his true nature. Their only chance of survival is to help each other. But what will happen when their powers are combined?

Supernaturally by Kiersten White
Paranormalcy Book #2
Publishers – Harper Collins
Release Date – 1st Aug 2011

Check it out at Goodreads | The Book Depository

A lot has changed since Evie escaped from the International Paranormal Containment Agency with her shapeshifter boyfriend, Lend. She?s no longer occupied with bagging and tagging paranormals to be monitored at IPCA?s headquarters. Instead, she spends her days at school like a normal teenager, eagerly awaiting the weekends when Lend comes home from college and trying not to be killed by overly enthusiastic soccer players in her gym class.

Evie?s world, in fact, has become overwhelmingly normal. And Evie is shocked to realise that normal can be…kind of boring. Then Raquel appears, asking her to help out at IPCA again. As Evie dips back into her former life, she learns that things are changing in the world of paranormals, and never-before-seen supernatural creatures are popping up left and right. Evie also has to deal with IPCA?s newest teenage recruit who has the power to open faerie doors and a nasty tendency to show up in Evie?s room unannounced. But nothing prepares her for the reappearance of her faerie ex-boyfriend Reth, who hints that a battle is brewing in the faerie world.

And the prize they?re fighting over? Evie?s soul.

Oh, bleep. So much for normal.

Thanks to Jess from Pease Exchange for lending me this book :)

Deception by Lee Nichols
Haunting Emma Book #1
Publishers – Bloomsbury
Release Date – 1st Sept 2011

Check it out at Goodreads | The Book Depository

When Emma Vaile’s parents leave on a mysterious business trip, it gives her the perfect excuse to be a rebellious teen. But then her best friend stops talking to her, the police crash her party and Emma finds herself in the hands of a new guardian, Bennett Stern, and on a plane to his museum-like mansion in New England.

After enrolling at Thatcher Academy, Emma settles in by making friends with the popular crowd. She has memories of Thatcher she can’t explain and strange visions are haunting her. Emma doesn’t trust anyone any more – except maybe Bennett. But he’s about to reveal a ghostly secret to her. One that will explain the visions . . . and make Emma fear for her life.

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

The Story Siren runs a meme called In My Mailbox where Book Bloggers can interact and talk about the books they have received in their mailbox each week. Go and check it out and join in the fun!