Recent Arrivals chronicles the books that have made their way onto the Today, I Read… bookshelf. Here’s the latest arrival: Totally Tangled by Sandy Steen Bartholomew

Initial thoughts: I’d never heard of Zentangles before, but the idea intrigued me. I looked it up online and found the originator’s website selling an instructional kit for around $50. Um, no. Not for something I wasn’t sure I’d be all that interested in doing.

I decided to check out Amazon and found a few books that were more reasonably priced and decided on Totally Tangled because of the positive reviews.

I’ve gone through it and I have mixed feelings. Zentangles seems like it could be a fun relaxing way to release some creative energy, but the book is much lighter on the instruction than I anticipated.

Review forthcoming. Review completed.

Book description:

Can’t draw? Stressed out? Even if you are an artist and feel perfectly calm…Zentangle is for you! Learn to focus, relax your mind and boost your creative confidence. No kidding!

Book Details: 50 pages; Design Originals; Pub. April 6, 2010

Recent Arrivals chronicles the books that have made their way onto the Today, I Read… bookshelf. Here’s the latest arrival: StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce

First (two) sentence(s): I couldn’t think. My chest hurt from running, and I wasn’t even sure I was in the right place.

Initial thoughts: The first chapter paints this book as an intriguing read, but I can tell straight away that another round of edits for minor errors was needed, but I’m hoping it won’t detract from the reading. It starts in media res with Digger, a thief, having just escaped some guards, leaving behind her boyfriend. (I assume it’s her boyfriend since they were kissing.) And there’s a mystery swirling around the letters she and her boyfriend were commissioned to steal. So far, this looks like it will be action-packed fantasy and I want to know more.

Book description:

High in the snow-covered mountains of Llyvraneth, in a castle full of the country’s elite, Celyn Contrare serves as a lady-in-waiting to shy young Merista Nemair. Her days are spent dressing in velvet and brocade, attending Lady Merista, navigating court gossip, and charming noblemen over lavish feasts.

And at night, she picks locks, steals jewels, forges documents, and collects secrets. Because Celyn isn’t really a lady-in-waiting; she’s not even really Celyn Contrare. She’s Digger, a sneak-thief on the run from the king’s Inquisition, desperate to escape its cruel instruments and hatred of magic. If she’s discovered, it will mean her certain death…

…But life as a lady-in-waiting isn’t safe either. The devious Lord Daul knows her secret, and he’d blackmailing her to serve as his personal spy in the castle. What she discovers–about Daul, about the Nemair, even about her own Lady Merista–could signal civil war in Llyvraneth. And for a thief trained never to get involved, taking sides could be the most dangerous job yet.

Book Details: 400 pages pages; Arthur A. Levine Books; Pub. October 1, 2010.

Recent Arrivals chronicles the books that have made their way onto the Today, I Read… bookshelf. Here’s the latest arrival: Trapped by Michael Northrop

First sentence: We were the last seven kids waiting around to get picked up from Tattawa Regional High School.

Initial thoughts: Oh, goodness. I’ve read the first chapter, and now I’m anxious to read the rest. This book sounds like it’s right up my alley, indeed. Seven kids trapped in a school while the snow outside has consumed everything. That means there’s no help coming. It almost seems like it could be one of those "what would you do?" types of stories–you know, the kind where they end up eating each other when all the food runs out–but who knows. The description hints at something more sinister, though. It isn’t due out until February 2011, but I’ve bumped it up on my TBR list.

Book description:

Scotty and his friends Pete and Jason are among the last seven kids at their high school waiting to get picked up that day, and they soon realize that no one is coming for them. Still, it doesn’t seem so bad to spend the night at school, especially when distractingly hot Krista and Julie are sleeping just down the hall. But then the power goes out, then the heat. The pipes freeze, and the roof shudders. As the days add up, the snow piles higher, and the empty halls grow colder and darker, the mounting pressure forces a devastating decision….

Book Details: 240 pages pages; Scholastic Press; Pub. February 2011

Recent Arrivals chronicles the books that have made their way onto the Today, I Read… bookshelf. Here’s the latest arrival: Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So Popular Party Girl by Rachel Renee Russell

First line: I can’t believe this is happening to me!

Initial thoughts:

*SQUEE* happy dance.

I read the first Dork Diaries installment and loved it. It reminded me of what is was like to be young and in school and how every little thing that went wrong was the absolute end of the world and how awkward it felt to talk to the boy all the girls wanted to be with and just how traumatizing in general middle school could be.

So when I saw the package from Simon & Schuster waiting for me, I did a little happy dance.

It even came in a cute wrapping with a Ring Pop. A RING POP! (I haven’t had one of those since I was in school.)

I can’t wait to dig into this book and I’m hoping it will be just as much fun as the first one.

Book description:

In this second installment of the Dork Diaries series, Nikki is starting to adjust to life at her new school with her awesome friends Chloe and Zoey at her side. Her crush, Brandon, even asks her to be his lab partner for "Structure of Mitochondria," a seriously awesome development.

But after Nikki overhears mean girl MacKenzie bragging that Brandon’s going to take her to the Halloween dance and they’re dressing as Edward and Bella, a bummed Nikki signs on to spend Halloween at a kids’ party for her little sister, Brianna. It’s only after Nikki makes the commitment that she finds out MacKenzie was lying and Nikki’s dream of going to the party with Brandon could be a reality. Now she’s got two parties to juggle, plus plenty of other trials and tribulations along the way, ranging from creating a fairy repellent spray to ease Brianna’s ongoing fear of the tooth fairy and trying to stifle a nasty case of the hiccups at her dad’s ex-boss’s funeral. Life for Nikki Maxwell is never dull!

Book Details: 288 pages; Aladdin; Pub. June 8, 2010

I haven’t done a Mailbox Monday post in a long while because I’ve been giving the books individual spotlights as they come into my home through my recent arrivals series. But I’ve been slacking a bit and am many, many books behind; doing an individual post for each would take days. So, I’m just going to do a quick round-up post highlighting all the new additions to my TBR pile.

I’ve already finished (and loved!) Still Missing by Chevy Stevens; the review is forthcoming. I actually set aside Stolen by Lucy Christopher in order to read it. The two books run along similar lines—kidnap victims and the aftermath, though Stolen is for a younger audience and Still Missing is purely adult. Another difference between the two is the pacing: Stolen is slow going and Still Missing flew by at breakneck speed.

After finishing Still Missing, I decided to try my hand at Stolen again and after another thirty agonizingly slow pages, I decided to set it aside (…for the second time) and picked up Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell. While this book took more than a few chapters to get into, I’ve warmed up to the story and the characters. Frankly, though, the Anglicisms are tripping me up and I’m not overly fond of the writing style—but the story is shaping up to be a good one.

And a quick note about the cover of The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson…the image does it no justice. It’s absolutely beautiful and the blue is a lovely hologram-y type of material that reflects and changes as it bends and shifts. Words cannot describe.