IMM is brought to us all by the magnificent Kristi and Alea. After a couple of weeks of not purchasing anything it is lovely to be able to contribute to IMM and know that I will have more reviewing material.

For Review:

There was no photo or blurb available for Descent by Charlotte McConaghy.

The Possibility of Fireflies - Dominique Paul

I am sitting on my front stoop. I think it's about midnight. I was busy reading up until an hour ago, but my eyes started to hurt from squinting. Now it's just me and the waiting.

It's 1987 and fourteen-year-old Ellie Roma doesn't have much of a family. She lives with her mother, who has taken a break from parenting; and her older sister, Gwen, who is on her way to becoming a juvenile delinquent. Her father left them to start a new life.

So Ellie spends a lot of time alone, especially at night, when all she has to keep her company are the fireflies that flicker in the summer air. Then one day a mysterious stranger enters her dark world. He is Leo, twenty-one, who is on his way to Hollywood to become a rock star. Ellie and Leo connect instantly, and Ellie hopes Leo will be the one to rescue her from her unhappy life. But instead, Leo teaches Ellie that no one can save you. You have to go after what you want. So one night -- one terrible, frightening, thrilling night -- that's exactly what Ellie decides to do.

Intriguing huh?

Gifts from my fantasy-loving friend

Dreamhunter - Elizabeth Knox

Laura comes from a world similar to our own except for one difference: It is next to the Place, an unfathomable land that fosters dreams of every kind and is inaccessible to all but a select few, the dreamhunters. These are individuals with the ability to catch larger-than-life dreams and relay them to audiences in the magnificent dream palace. People travel from all around to experience the benefits of the hunters’ unique visions.

Now, fifteen-year-old Laura and her cousin Rose, daughters of dreamhunters, are old enough to find out if they qualify to enter the Place. But nothing can prepare them for what they are about to discover. In the midst of a fascinating landscape, Laura’s dreamy childhood is ending, and a nightmare is beginning.

Amongst one of the worst covers ever...interesting premise though.

The Dead Travel Fast - Deanna Raybourn

A husband, a family, a comfortable life: Theodora Lestrange lives in terror of it all.

With a modest inheritance and the three gowns that comprise her entire wardrobe, Theodora leaves Edinburgh — and a disappointed suitor — far behind. She is bound for Roumania, where tales of vampires are still whispered, to visit an old friend and write the book that will bring her true independence.

She arrives at a magnificent, decaying castle in the Carpathians replete with eccentric inhabitants: the ailing dowager; the troubled steward; her own fearful friend, Cosmina. But all are outstripped in dark glamour by the castle's master, Count Andrei Dragulescu.

Bewildering and bewitching in equal measure, the brooding nobleman ignites Theodora's imagination and awakens passions in her that she can neither deny nor conceal. His allure is superlative, his dominion over the superstitious town, absolute — Theodora may simply be one more person under his sway.

A pro-active heroine in bit-lit? Kill me now.

The Disappeared - Kim Echlin

After more than 30 years Anne Greves feels compelled to break her silence about her first lover, and a treacherous pursuit across Cambodia's killing fields. Once she was a motherless girl from taciturn immigrant stock. Defying fierce opposition, she falls in love with Serey, a gentle rebel and exiled musician. She's still only 16 when he leaves her in their Montreal flat to return to Cambodia And, after a decade without word, she abandons everything to search for him in the bars of Phnom Penh, a city traumatized by the Khmer Rouge slaughter. Against all odds the lovers are reunited, and in a political country where tranquil rice paddies harbour the bones of the massacred, Anne pieces together a new life with Serey. But there are wounds that love cannot heal, and some mysteries too dangerous to know. And when Serey disappears again, Anne discovers a story she cannot bear.

Sounds like a hard read but one well worth the effort.

Courtesy of an Australian friend of great awesomeness

Headgames - Casey Lever

Steven Byrd is highly intelligent. He's just not very smart. For one thing, he's obsessed with Avery Adams - a girl who can't stand him. When Steven discovers Avery is involved in a secret game, he drags his best mate, Tala, along for the ride. Steven laughs when he finally hears what the game is - until he thinks about the other players. Avery has had plenty of practice at twisting the knife to hurt Steven. Connor Robson is rumoured to have been in juvenile detention, and Connor's half-sister Jude's hostility could break glass. A silly kids' game can get serious very quickly when you let other people inside your head.

Male protagonist. Check. Australian tale. Check. Manipulation, probable violence and name calling. Count me in.

Anonymity Jones - James Roy

Once, in a street not very far from yours, there lived a girl called Anonymity Jones.

Anonymity's life is falling apart. Her father has left to have a mid-life crisis, her mother's new boyfriend is a definite worry, her Europe-bound sister has changed her name (just to make a point) and all her girl friends are now girlfriends, with boyfriends.

And then there's the art teacher.

Anonymity is losing control, and it's decision time. Does she hang on, get out, or get even?

One word....FINALLY!

The Crossing - Mandy Hager

The Crossing is the first book in a stunning new trilogy that follows the fate of Maryam and her unlikely companions - Joseph, Ruth and Lazarus. This is fast, suspenseful drama underpinned by a powerful and moving story about love and loss. The people of Onewere, a small island in the Pacific, know that they are special - chosen to survive the deadly event that consumed the Earth. Now, from the rotting cruise ship Star of the Sea, the elite control the population - manipulating old texts to set themselves up as living 'gods'. But what the people of Onewere don't know is this: the leaders will stop at nothing to meet their own blood-thirsty needs. When Maryam crosses from child to woman, she must leave everything she has ever known and make a crossing of another kind. But life inside the ship is not as she had dreamed, and she is faced with the unthinkable: obey the leaders and very likely die, or turn her back on every belief she once held dear.

This cover genuinely freaks me out. I even thought I saw the head move independantly of the body just a second ago. I am gullible.

A Girl Like Me - Penny Matthews

Their lives couldn't be more different, but Emmie can't help liking Bertha Schippan. She's funny and knowing and wild, and she distracts Emmie from the monotony of farm life in their tiny, isolated community. But, as Emmie soon discovers, Bertha has secrets. Terrible secrets.

Bertha? Bertha? I love it. I think this will be one that might remind me of living in two bit Australian country towns. This can be both a good and bad thing. Excited to read it.

Note - if you have time, I have posted a discussion about blogger conflict and would really like your thoughts on this matter. I have struggled enormously with my own roles in these situations and wonder what your experiences have been like.