I have a confession to make. Sometimes when people ask me what I’m reading, I hesitate before answering. For some reason, I feel like I need to explain why I’m reading a young adult novel, when I have not, in fact, been a ‘young’ adult for many years.

And then, I feel guilty for explaining. Because most of the books I read are fabulous, and they’re YA, and those two qualities go hand in hand, and I shouldn’t need to defend those facts to anyone.

But here’s the thing about this month’s book club selection, The Scorpio Races. I. Loved. It. There isn’t a box big enough or amazing enough to hold it. Not only will I tell my YA reading friends about it, I’ll tell everyone who can read about it. And I won’t be anything but proud that I was lucky enough to recommend it.

Welcome to the Fall Book Club Selection, hosted by the lovely Tracey Neithercott at Words On Paper.

The summary, from Maggie Stiefvater’s website:

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

This book is amazing in so many ways. Stiefvater writes prose with stark, naked beauty and heart-clinching rhythm. I could smell the salt and fish on Gabe’s clothes, taste the November cakes melting on my tongue, and hear the waves crashing beneath the cliffs. Her descriptions sucked me right into the island, but never weighed down the pace or slowed the ticking clock.

I finish many books wishing I could know the characters in real life. But the magic of The Scorpio Races is that I put it down feeling like a member of the Connolly family. Puck is the bravest, strongest main character I’ve read since Katniss Everdeen, and I read The Hunger Games the week it debuted. My only complaint would be that I want to know Sean better, but of course, that’s part of his magic, too. He holds everything close to his blue-black jacket, and what we do learn about him is all show and no tell.

My last comment, without too many spoilers, is about the ending. Stiefvater sets her characters’ stakes against each other, meaning that however the book ends, someone has to lose. I worried about how she would pull it off, and whether I’d be left crying in my boots. But she saw the perfect ending to stay true to the tone of the story, and I put it down full of hope and no tears.

I can't wait to read everyone else's reactions!

Perfect music for this novel: Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men

Yay! It's finally time for Fall Book Club! Thank you to Tracey at Words on Paper for hosting this awesome blog discussion. October's book was Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor.


Daughter of Smoke and Bone is fresh, different, and exciting. I've never read anything quite like it. These qualities make it a good read, but it’s not just good. It’s an I-have-to-stay-up-past-my-bedtime-to finish-and-then-write-a-five-star-review-at-two-in-the-morning great book.

Here is my attempt at a brief, spoiler-free summary:

Lovely, unique artist Karou walks a line between the world we know and a world of wishes and monsters. She runs errands for her not-quite human mentor Brimstone, wondering what he does with all the teeth he collects from around the world. When a mysterious stranger threatens the portals between earth and Elsewhere, Karou has to discover the truth about her past and decide which future she will fight for.

So, what makes this book amazing? The world building and story are both phenomenal. But it's the language that pushes it to the next level. Taylor writes with such depth and grace; the prose rolls from the tip of your mind like honey.

One of the reasons I’m in love with this book is because it blurs the lines between good and evil. Taylor’s word choices play with our preconceptions. Karou begins on the side of the “devils” and “monsters,” and the “angels” are heartless killers. The beautiful part is that by the end, we get to see both sides of the story, through brilliant third-person narration.

I loved this book. I’m not in favor of trying to put a unique thing in a box, but I do have lingering questions about how to classify Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Is it urban fantasy? Parts certainly take place on cities in present-day earth. But at a certain point late in the novel, the story shifts into straight fantasy. This approach works; the reader identifies easily with Karou in the beginning, and the cross-world connections are integral to the story’s progress. But I went in to this book blind for the Fall Book Club, and I actually went back to read the ‘flap’ summary halfway through, because I wanted to know how much the publisher gave away.

I discussed this with one YA author who prefers more ‘reality-time’ in the beginning. A few years ago the trend was toward faster immersion, with the story beginning where some strange (paranormal, magical, etc.) event thrusts the protagonist into the new world in the first five pages. Michael Smith’s The Alchemyst comes to mind, and Casandra Clare’s City of Bones. Is that trend shifting? In Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (which I enjoyed very much) I did feel a disconnect between the longer period of ‘reality’ in the beginning, because the fantasy elements came so much later.

What do you think? Would you rather a fantasy begin in the ‘fantastic’ world, or would you rather have more time to get to know the characters in the real world first? I can't wait to see how everyone else reacted!


Music perfect for this story: Paradise by Coldplay