Rabbitin

Summary from the flap of the dust jacket, hard cover binding. In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.… The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures. A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage ...

In My Mailbox ailbox is a meme hosted by Story Siren . It features books you've received or bought during the week. I got a used Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence. This is the first book in the epistolary trilogy written by Nick Bantoc.  I have only skimmed the book but I found it thrilling to leaf through pages with envelopes that has actual letters in them and some are printed as if handwritten by the letter sender.  The postcards are stunning. I like the stamps on the postcards as well, they make them more authentic.  The dust jacket has a small tear but apart from that the book is in pretty good condition and I hope to get started on it soon. How about you, what's in your mailbox?

Summary from Goodreads : Lovely Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives, they are determined that she know only contentment. But Sorcha's joy is shattered when her father is bewitched by his new wife, an evil enchantress who binds her brothers with a terrible spell, a spell which only Sorcha can lift-by staying silent. If she speaks before she completes the quest set to her by the Fair Folk and their queen, the Lady of the Forest, she will lose her brothers forever.  When Sorcha is kidnapped by the enemies of Sevenwaters and taken to a foreign land, she is torn between the desire to save her beloved brothers, and a love that comes only once. Sorcha despairs at ever being able to complete her task, but the magic of the Fair Folk knows no boundaries, and love is the strongest magic of them all... This book is many things rolle...

From The Back Cover: "Cannot a Beast be tamed?" Beauty, believing herself plain and awkward, loves roses. But when her father goes travelling and plucks just one magnificent, crimson rosebud from the garden of a magical castle, a fearsome Beast demands revenge. Either Beauty's father must forfeit his life - or his daughter must promise to live with the Beast for ever. A captivating retelling of the story of Beauty and the Beast from a Newbery Medal-winning author. After having read a book from Gail Carson Levine and Shannon Hale (Although I'm not sure if Princess Academy is a fairy tale retelling) I am in the mood for more retellings. And Beauty and the Beast is undoubtedly my favorite fairy tale. I remember me and sisters getting dibs on the Disney Princesses. I was happy that my two sisters picked Ariel and Aurora and I get to have Belle, especially since I panic and tend to be really slow when they establish picking times. (I lost my claim over Storm and had to set...

Summary from Goodreads : Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess. Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates.  I was quite wary to approach this book because well, what variation can there be of a princess story? A destitute girl with a pure ...

2011 was a great reading year for me and I've been meaning to put up a "summary" post at the end of the year so this one has been long overdue.  Here are the books I've read and loved last year. I'm particularly thrilled about getting to read Melina Marchetta, Marcus Zusak, Jasper Fforde and Patrick Ness. And I'm hoping I'll get to read more of their works this year.