Book Review: How We Fall

Today I’m reviewing How We Fall by Kate Brauning. This book has been on my TBR list since its release, and I was lucky enough to win a copy at the SCBWI mid-year workshops in Orlando this month. 

Buy it here

The summary, adapted from Goodreads:

Ever since Jackie moved to her uncle's sleepy farming town, she's been flirting way too much--and with her own cousin, Marcus. Their friendship has turned into something she can't control, and he's the reason Jackie lost track of her best friend, Ellie. Ellie has been missing for months, and the police, fearing the worst, are searching for her body. Swamped with guilt and the knowledge that acting on her love for Marcus would tear their families apart, Jackie pushes her cousin away.

The plan is to fall out of love, and, just as she hoped he would, Marcus falls for the new girl in town. But something isn't right about this stranger, and Jackie's suspicions about the new girl's secrets drive the wedge deeper between Jackie and Marcus. Then Marcus pays the price for someone else's lies as the mystery around Ellie's disappearance becomes horribly clear. Can Jackie leave her first love behind, and can she go on living with the fact that she failed her best friend?

The review:

I really enjoyed How We Fall. The relationship between two cousins, Jackie and Marcus, is steamy, intriguing, and uncomfortable in a way that amps up the tension from the opening chapter. The family dynamics, including both sets of parents and many siblings, also give the story depth and authenticity. I was skeptical at first to see how the mystery of Ellie’s disappearance would play out with the complexity of the love story, and while I would’ve liked a bit more of that plot line developed in the first half of the book, Brauning did pull it all together in the end. My favorite secondary character was Will, a fantastic alternative love interest. I would recommend this book to fans of YA contemporary romance and suspense.

5 out of 5 stars.

Music for today: 15 Step by Radiohead

Cover Reveal: Library Jumpers

Brenda Drake has done more to support other authors than just about anyone I know on the Internet. Thank you so much, Brenda, for all the time, love, and support for the YA community and beyond. I am so thrilled today to be able to share in the cover reveal for her book Library Jumpers! Isn't it gorgeous?

Library Jumpers

by Brenda Drake

Release Date: January 2016

Entangled Teen

Summary from Goodreads:

Gia Kearns would rather fight with boys than kiss them. That is, until Arik, a leather clad hottie in the Boston Athenaeum, suddenly disappears. While examining the book of world libraries he abandoned, Gia unwittingly speaks the key that sucks her and her friends into a photograph and transports them into a Paris library, where Arik and his Sentinels—magical knights charged with protecting humans from the creatures traveling across the gateway books—rescue them from a demonic hound.

Jumping into some of the world's most beautiful libraries would be a dream come true for Gia, if she weren’t busy resisting her heart or dodging an exiled wizard seeking revenge on both the Mystik and human worlds. Add a French flirt obsessed with Arik and a fling with a young wizard, and Gia must choose between her heart and her head, between Arik's world and her own, before both are destroyed.

Pre-Order Links:

Amazon│Barnes & Noble

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About the Author

Brenda Drake, the youngest of three children, grew up an Air Force brat and the continual new kid at school until her family settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Brenda’s fondest memories growing up is of hereccentric, Irish grandmother’s animated tales, which gave her a strong love for storytelling. So it was only fitting that she would choose to write young adult and middle grade novels with a bend toward the fantastical.

When Brenda’s not writing or doing the social media thing, she’s haunting libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops or reading someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment).

Author Links:

   

Cover Reveal Organized by:

Crow's Rest

I have followed the publication journey of the YA urban fantasy Crow's Rest for a while now. I am so excited to share the book trailer today!

The summary:

Avery Flynn arrives for a visit at her Uncle Tam's, eager to rekindle her summertime romance with her crush-next-door, Daniel.

But Daniel’s not the sweet, neurotic guy she remembers--and she wonders if this is her Daniel at all. Or if someone--or something--has taken his place.

Her quest to find the real Daniel--and get him back--plunges Avery into a world of Fae and changelings, where creatures swap bodies like humans change their socks, and magic lives much closer to home than she ever imagined.

Written by the fabulous Angelica R. Jackson, Crow's Rest will be available in May of 2015. Angelica made the trailer herself on a tight budget. You can learn more about the author on her website here. And for more information on how she put this awesome trailer together, click here.

Crow's Rest is up on Goodreads and available for pre-order here and here.

Book Reviews: A Double-edged Sword

Recently a writer I know and respect sent out a message asking readers and friends to please review her new book on the various sites. (Goodreads, Amazon, etc.) It was all completely on the up-and-up. She didn't ask for positive reviews, just honesty from those who'd read it, in the hopes that they might balance out some harsh ones. I haven't read her book yet, but of course this piqued my interest to see what prompted her request.

She had a few of those scathing, rambling reviews that tell you far more about the general unhappiness of the person writing them than the actual book. Who has time to write this stuff? I mean, why not spend that time writing their own masterpieces of fiction? As a reader, those reviews mean nothing to me.

But the rest of the reviews were of the helpful variety. They gave short summaries and highlights of what they liked and what they didn't. The points were all very similar, with above-average ratings. My problem is this: the issues they mentioned were all things that really bug me in other books. They're things related to character development that cause me to put a book down.

I wanted to buy this book, both for my own enjoyment and to support a fellow writer. But with so many awesome releases coming out every week, what I read on these sites was enough keep my money in my pocket. The key point is that it wasn't the terrible reviews that held me back, but the good ones. The worst thing is, at least from her perspective, that I would have bought her book if I'd never gotten that message.

Music for today: Lovesong by The Cure

Writers on Writing: The Writer's Process

Last week Alison Miller tagged me in the Writer's on Writing blog hop, and today's my day! You can check out her blog here. Thanks, Alison!

1. What are you working on?

My work-in-progress is a YA contemporary about a girl with a disabled father and a mother in prison. She's done a fine job taking care of herself and her dad, thank you very much, until the uncle she blames for her mom's conviction shows up to ruin everything. Again. The writing is going slow, with end of the school year activities on top of work-type editing responsibilities. But I am in love with this character. She's brave and strong and loyal, with a questionable moral compass. The family relationships are complex, and it's exciting to see how their interactions play out. I've readjusted my goal of finishing the first draft from a certain date to sometime this summer.

2. What makes your work different?

Every piece of long fiction I've written takes place mostly in the South. This didn't begin as an intentional choice, yet most pieces take place in north or central Florida, in areas where I've lived for many years. North Florida has a unique flavor, somehow both deep South and lassez-faire, diverse in culture and beliefs, and both literally and figuratively hot and steamy. I hate seeing Southerners depicted as dim-witted and close-minded on television and in movies, and though less often, also in books. I try to bring a different touch of the South to my work, something that enhances the characters without drawing too much attention to itself.

3. Why do you write what you do?

I fell in love with YA while teaching middle school. It started out as a way to stay tuned to what my students were reading. I read everything they recommended, alongside my Anita Shreve and Stephen King. One day, a student came to me and said, "Mrs. D, you have to read this! It's about a boy, and he finds out he's a wizard, and..." Suddenly I wasn't just reading children's books for them anymore. I was one of those people waiting to pick up the next Harry Potter at midnight when it came out. When I started seeking out YA books that were beyond my sixth graders for my personal reading, I knew I was hooked.

Still, when I started writing, my first novel was in the "women's" fiction camp. It took place over twenty plus years, but it began when the main character was a freshman in college. But she didn't act that way. She acted like someone in high school. And it hit me that tapping in to the potential for a life full of wonders and firsts and mistakes, was the sweet spot. The place where I wanted to write. I started reading YA almost exclusively, and writing it, and I haven't looked back since.

4. What is your writing process?

Everything starts with a character. I think about him or her for a while, and I start with jotting down everything. Likes and dislikes, quirks, family background, friends, everything. Once I have a general idea of what the problem will be, I write a rough idea of what the climax will be, usually not knowing how it will end. Next I write more back stories for more characters, and then I just dig in and let those characters take me where they will. So, in short, I'm a pantser.

For my fantasy Trespassers, I have composition books filled with the "rules" of the world, drawings, maps, sticky notes for errant thoughts, the arch of the would-be trilogy, and extensive research of the history on which my magic was based. For my magical realism Perception, everything is cataloged in Word and Excel. (I think for me, the method changes to fit the story.) I do listen to music while drafting, and when I wrote Perception, my playlists included music my MC Evan loved. I edit and revise in quiet, and now that I'm drafting again, I'm having to find new music to suit my girl.

This has been so much fun! Alison also tagged Melanie Stanford today, so please check out her answers. And I'm tagging fellow Florida girl Missy LaRae, so please stop by her blog here for her answers on Thursday, May 29th.

It's been forever since I checked in with YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday. This week the topic is simple and perfect for what's been on my mind:

What are you reading right now?

I'm still reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. At about halfway through, that's slow reading for me.

I've been itching to talk about it, though, because I think Ms. Tartt has a secret. On top of being a best-selling, Pulitzer-winning literary powerhouse, she may secretly be a YA writer in disguise. Let's start with the premise of The Goldfinch, according to Goodreads:

Buy it here

Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

I realize that in the course of the narrative, Theo will grow up, and I'll learn how the trials of his youth shaped him and the circumstances he faces as an adult. But for the first half of this book, Tartt creates a raw, honest picture of a teenager's life in America. Theo deals with tragedy and loss, guilt and confusion. My heart aches for him and for my real-life sons, who are edging too close for comfort to his age.

The "youth" portion of this novel may not form a complete story on it's own, but even with plot elements aside, it would hold up as a coming of age tale. My question is, then, which defines a book as YA more, the age and circumstances of the main character, or the intention of the author to write for young people? If the answer is the former, then Ms. Tartt is definitely a YA writer in addition to her other talents.

Happy reading and happy Wednesday, everyone!

Music for today: Bad Blood by Bastille

Manuscript Music

This week the lovely Leatrice McKinney at Info Dump a la El is hosting Pitch Slam: Battle of the Bands!  In addition to pitching novels, each day this week we're rocking Pitch Slam Twitter Parties. Today we're sharing our writing playlists. 

My YA novel PERCEPTION is about a boy with a rare liver disorder who spends one wild night trying to forget his disease and exposes disturbing new neurological symptoms instead. Grounded, wanted by experimenting doctors and government informants, and falling for the girl who snitched on him, he faces treatment as a lab rat or freedom while sacrificing recovery. 

Here are some of the songs on my Perception Playlist!  

For a while now, I've thought that the greatest secondary benefit of being a writer was fulfilling my fan-girl fantasies of meeting the authors of books that I love. At my first writing conference, I had lunch with Charlaine Harris. (Well, we sat at the same table, and I was so tongue-tied that I barely said two words to her, but it still counts, right?) At  my second conference, I had an intensive workshop with the lovely Kristin Harmel. (Her amazing new book The Sweetness of Forgetting is an international best seller.) And don't get me started on SCBWI. Jay Asher. Ruta Sepetys. Sara Shepard. Patricia MacLachlan. Tony DiTerlizzi. I could fill up a whole post with all that awesome.

But, you know what? I've decided there's an even better writerly by-product.

I knew I'd struck gold with my critique partner Kip Taylor. I was so happy when my her first book was finally released, and you can read my review here.  But I had no idea then that I would keep hitting the writer-friend jackpot.

You guys, I am reading some amazing books. Books that I can't wait to review and share with you, so that you can see how awesome they are. But I can't do it yet, because they haven't been delivered into the world yet. These manuscripts belong to my beta/critique partners.

And just like I felt when I first read Kip's book Finn Flanagan, I cannot believe how lucky I am to get to read these novels before the rest of the world. But that's all I can say for now.

How about you? I'd love to see some CP love shared in the comments below!

Music for today: Chained by the XX. (I get to see them in 4 days!)

2012 is almost over, and we're all still here! I've been enjoying a relaxing week with my family leading up to Christmas. I've baked. I've written. I've read. A Lord of the Rings movie marathon followed our family reading and trip to see the Hobbit on the big screen. It's been a good week, and it's been a good year.

 

I am so glad to have spent another year blogging with you all in this fantastic community. Many thanks are due to Brenda Drake for all the work she does for fellow writers, and I am so excited to say that the awesome, startacular, brilliant Deana Barnhart, chose me as her teammate and mentee for Brenda's Pitch Wars, a pitchfest involving 37 teams and 16 agents, continuing to the final round on January 23-24. For more information about Brenda and Pitch Wars, click here. And please check out my mentor Deana here!

 

In writing, I've sailed my YA fantasy Trespassers through more revisions than I can count, and I've nearly finished the first draft of my NaNoWriMo magical realism project.

 

In reading, the bookshelves keep overflowing. My TBR list continues to grow, and there are never enough hours in the day to read. I wanted to wrap-up with some of my top reads of the year.

 

Best New Voice:

The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Best Contemporary:

Counting Backwards by Laura Lascarso

 

Best Fantasy World Building:

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

 

Best SciFi /Adventure:

Midnight City by J. Baron Mitchell 

 

Best Adult Read:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 

Best Conclusion to a Series:

Black Heart by Holly Black

 

 

 

And for my music of the day, I picked my favorite new album of 2012:

Synthetica by Metric

 

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year everyone! May your stockings be filled with books, and your homes filled loved ones!

 



 

Book Review: Midnight City

Today I'm reviewing Midnight City by J. Baron Mitchell, another book I read courtesy of the Southern Book Bloggers ARC tours.

The Summary, adapted from Goodreads:

Earth has been conquered by an alien race known as the Assembly. Holt Hawkins is a bounty hunter, and his current target is Mira Toombs, an infamous treasure seeker with a price on her head. It’s not long before Holt bags his prey, but their instant connection isn’t something he bargained for. Neither is the Assembly ship that crash-lands near them shortly after. Venturing inside, Holt finds a young girl who remembers nothing except her name: Zoey.

As the three make their way to the cavernous metropolis of Midnight City, they encounter young freedom fighters, mutants, otherworldly artifacts, pirates, feuding alien armies, and the amazing powers that Zoey is beginning to exhibit. Powers that suggest she may be the key to stopping the Assembly once and for all.

The teaser for this book bills it as War of the Worlds meets Lord of the Flies. I'd take it a step further to say it has the world-building of War of the Worlds meets the theme of Lord of the Flies meets the tone and character development of Joss Whedon's Firefly. Now I'm a big fan of Joss, so that likely went a long way in fueling my love for this book. (If you're a fan, too, let me entice you by saying Holt is undeniably a teen version of Captain Mal.) But that's not the only reason I loved it.

Mitchell has created a post-apocalyptic world so rich and diverse that you'll forget you're tired of dystopian. The characters are intensely likable and flawed, with a building attraction that fits the time and space perfectly. I also really appreciated the pacing, tension, and the style of writing, all of which I think would appeal to both reluctant, young male readers and anyone looking for a quirky but expansive story. (I don't usually recommend my YA reads to my husband, but I'm going to buy this one just so he can read it. That's how much I loved it.) The only negative? Waiting for part two in the series.

5 out of 5 stars.

Music for today: Well, of course, Midnight City by M83.

Book Review: Beta by Rachel Cohn

Happy December! First for a NaNoWriMo update, in case you were curious: I won! (Sort of.) I wrote eighteen chapters and a little over 50,000 words in the month of November on my YA magical realism manuscript codenamed Serenity. (A little Joss Whedon homage, which has nothing to do with the book at all, but it makes me smile to see that title in my file folder.) I can't quite say that I'm finished, though. I've got about five chapters and about 15,000 words to go, with a goal of finishing before Christmas. Anyhoo...

Today I'm reviewing Beta by Rachel Cohn, which I read through an ARC tour by the Southern Book Bloggers.

The Summary, adapted from Goodreads:

Elysia is a Beta, an experimental model of a teenage clone, created in a laboratory and born as a sixteen-year-old girl. Elysia's purpose is to serve the inhabitants of Demesne, an island paradise for the wealthiest people on earth. Beneath the island's flawless exterior, an undercurrent of discontent exists among Demesne's worker clones. Elysia knows she is soulless and cannot feel and should not care--so why are overpowering sensations clouding Elysia's mind?

If anyone discovers that Elysia isn't the unfeeling clone she must pretend to be, she will suffer a fate too terrible to imagine. When her one chance at happiness is ripped away, rage, terror, and desire threaten to overwhelm her. Elysia must find the will to survive before it's too late. 


Cohn transports the reader to Demesne, a perfect world where clones are slaves and the humans are still not satisfied, even when they have everything. She even does an excellent job of incorporating the outside world and political complications through the supporting characters. Elysia's voice rings true from the opening chapter, and my connection to her kept me turning the pages, even when I questioned some of the plot development.

In the interest of staying spoiler-free, I'll just say that one of the major plot propellants shocked me, and not in a good way. This is definitely an upper-YA book, with sexual situations and a violent turn. I read a wide range in MG, YA, and adult fiction, and these kinds of situations don't bother me when they're an authentic development of the story. In Beta, though, I felt a disconnect when the tone shifted dramatically in the last quarter of the book. I respect Rachel Cohn immensely as a story-teller, but Beta just wasn't my cup of tea.

3 out of 5 stars.
Music for today: Bring on the Night by The Police

Beth Revis Is My Hero

I don't think it's a secret that this blog exists because I love books. Sometimes I have to slow down the reading habit, because I could easily spend hundreds every month. My new hero Beth Revis is giving away an entire LIBRARY of SIGNED YA books, and all you have to do to enter is share the news about the giveaway and share the love for YA books.

This is a great time for me to talk about what I love about YA, because I just finished reading my adult book of the month, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Gone Girl is a fantastic book; it lives up to the hype and deserves all the rave reviews. I enjoyed the stark truths about marriage and failed expectations wrapped in the twisted mystery, the hallmarks that make it an adult book. But they also reminded me why I have a heart for YA.

YA books have a unique sort of promise. They have possibility. They have hope for the future.

When I was a teenager, I could not wait to be an adult. (Like many teens, I actually thought I was an old soul, trapped in a young body.) I was so busy rushing to get there that I missed that chance to revel in the potential of what the future could be. And like so many firsts you can't ever get back, the moment when a young adult makes his or her first life-altering decision has a sort of magic. Most YA books, whether contemporary, fantasy, or any other genre, explore this in one way or another. That magic of the first is what I love most about YA.

For your chance to win Beth's AMAZING giveaway, (seriously--  nearly 50 signed books to a single winner) click here for Beth's blog. And if you choose to enter and blog on what you love about YA, leave a link to your post in the comments! Happy NaNoWriMo, everybody!

Music for today: Breathing Underwater by Metric

RTW: Best Book of September

Today YA Highway asks, "What was the best book you read in September?"

This gives me the perfect opportunity to review The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke, which I read through a SBB ARC tour. The Assassin's Curse debuts October 2, 2012.

 

The summary:

 

When teenage pirate Ananna refuses an arranged marriage, the intended groom's family orders her assassination. Instead of killing the hired assassin Naji when she has the chance, Ananna saves his life, activating a curse that binds them together. Forced into partnership, Ananna and Naji must work together to break the impossible curse and evade enemies coming at them from all sides.

 

The review:

 

I really loved The Assassin's Curse, enough to make it my best book of September. (And I read some great books this month -- Throne of Glass, Starters, A Need So Beautiful, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me, and Cinder.)

 

From the opening chapter Clarke displays a powerful voice, complete with slang and dialect that teeters on the line of "over-the-top" without ever crossing it. The intrigue of magical pirates and assassins hooked me, but the characters really captured my heart. Cursing, thieving, and headstrong, Ananna felt more real because of her faults. And Naji was perfect as the brooding, dangerous leading man with a mysterious past. If you like a slow-building romance with plenty of action, The Assassin's Curse is the book for you.

 

5 out of 5 stars

 

Sometimes before I write a review, I visit Goodreads to help with the summary or to see what other readers have to say. The Assassin's Curse has many great reviews there, with an average over 4 stars, but I came across one that was truly awful. The reviewer trashed the book, and while I know readers can have vastly different reactions to a book, this one really bothered me. The reviewer felt that the romantic element was completely thrown in at the end, and I couldn't disagree more. Clarke does an excellent job of "showing" Ananna's feelings for Naji without "telling." As a writer, I couldn't help but wonder if the reviewer missed the subtlety, or if she just didn't connect with the characters like I did. Is it just me? Does it bother you when you read a terrible review of a book that you loved?

 

Music for today: Help I'm Alive by Metric 

Hello to all of my new followers! Thank you so much for joining in the Awkwardness. I am thrilled to have finally topped the 100 mark. Please stop back by on Monday, when I'll start sign-ups for my first ever give-away to celebrate! The top prize will be a $25 Amazon gift card. I also have a signed copy of Starters by Lissa Price to give away, and my critique partner Kip Taylor's book Finn Flanagan and the Fledglings.

If you're here looking for my GUTGAA post, click here. For my general "about me" page, click here. And now for today's post, my Southern Book Bloggers ARC tour review of Ten by Gretchen McNeil, scheduled to release on September 18th.

The summary, adapted from Goodreads:

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get.

Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

The review:

First, I think the cover for Ten is amazing. How could you walk by that cover and not pick it up? Once I dove in, I got exactly what I expected. I haven't read much teen horror, but this book reminded me of a classic teen scream pic, like I Know What You Did Last Summer.

I accepted the set-up to get the players on the island and cut them off from the outside, and the premise for the mystery unfolded quickly. The supporting cast started dropping like flies just as fast. I enjoyed MC Meg as the quiet, loyal friend, and I cheered for her as she survived the killings and unraveled the clues. But I would have liked to see all of the side characters more thoroughly developed; after the first murder, the shock and emotional connection wore off.

The conclusion was not realistic, but it was still satisfying. If you're looking for something with a Stephen King-for-teens quality, Ten is the book for you.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Music for today:
Time is Running Out by Muse

Book Review: Something Strange and Deadly

Today I'm reviewing Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard, as a part of an ARC tour hosted by the Southern Book Bloggers.

In Philadelphia in 1876, Eleanor Fitt must partner with the supernatural-fighting Spirit Hunters to find her missing brother, dodge her mother's desperate attempts to find her a husband, and avoid the strange and deadly zombies plaguing the city.

The first blurb I read for this book said if you liked Clockwork Angel, you'll love Something Strange and Deadly. That line alone hooked me, and it truly is a great comparison. Also like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Dennard's debut blends a romantic historical flair with a wide cast of characters and a fresh twist on a zombie invasion.

I really enjoyed Eleanor's journey from unassuming society girl to fearless, ninja detective. The pace moved well, and though there weren't any major surprises, the conclusion was ultimately well planned and satisfying. I loved that the zombies were under the villain's control and not too gory, unlike any other walking dead I've read. I'd recommend this book fans of supernatural and paranormal YA, even if walkers aren't your usual cup of tea.

Something Strange and Deadly is available tomorrow, July 24, 2012.

4 out of 5 stars.

Music for today:  Crawl by Kings of Leon

Lately I’ve purchased most of my books online. I almost couldn’t remember the last time I’d been in a book store before I read about Lisa Burstein’s giveaway to celebrate the release of her book Pretty Amy. The summary intrigued me, and I knew I wanted to read it. But one of the entry tasks was to take a picture of Pretty Amy in a bookstore. The next time I had a chance, I headed to Barnes & Noble.  And then I went to Books-A-Million. I wised up and started looking online, and I called the local independent stores, which mostly sell used books. Not one store carried Pretty Amy.

I am so glad that I went on the hunt, though. All the books on my Nook look so much more important and substantial sitting on the shelf. Bitterblue is longer than I realized, and the cover is brilliant. Other covers grabbed me enough to pick them up and read the blurb, and I never just browse like that on my e-reader.  

I ultimately bought Pretty Amy at Books-A-Million online, and when it arrived, I took it on a little field trip. (I was too chicken to smuggle it inside for a picture.)

I finished reading it a few days ago, and here is my short review: I really enjoyed it. Burstein captures the heart of what it means to want to belong. She explores choices and responsibility and consequences without being preachy. I’d recommend it not only to readers of contemporary YA, but also to parents wondering what makes their teenage daughters tick. To find out more about Pretty Amy, click here. And the giveaway is still open until midnight Saturday, July 21.

Thanks for stopping by!

Music for today: Youth Without Youth by Metric

YA Highway RTW: The Best Book in May

May is always a huge month for new releases, and this year all the titles I'd been waiting for lived up to the hype. I read the 5 YA titles above and a few adult books as well. You can check out my reviews of Bitterblue, Insurgent, and Reunited for more info. I'd have to pick Insurgent as the best book of the month, which is really saying something for the middle child of a trilogy. City of Lost Souls was every bit as steamy as I'd expected, though I'll be glad to get a more finite conclusion in book 6. And The Serpent's Shadow was an excellent end to the series. I highly recommend The Kane Chronicles if you're looking for a good MG adventure.

In other news, I'm tacking on a belated response to last week's RTW. Thanks to skymiles and a very supportive husband, I am going to SCBWI in LA! I am equal parts excited and nervous, and I'd love some suggestions on how to make the most of it. I've been to smaller state conferences over the past few years, but nothing like SCBWI. Are any of you blogger-type-people going? I'd love to chat about plans for the conference, and it would be awesome to meet you in person!

Music for today: Not a song, but a very cool trailer for Muse's upcoming album.  

YA Book Club is hosted by Tracey Neithercott at Words on Paper. Thanks for bring us all together, Tracey!

This month we're discussing Insurgent by Veronica Roth.

Insurgent is the second book in the Divergent trilogy. It's difficult to discuss a sequel without giving away the secrets of the first book, but I'm going to try. Here is an adapted Goodreads summary that avoids major spoilers:

War looms as conflict between the factions grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence to survive, no matter what the cost.

Things I love about Insurgent:

1. It picks up right where Divergent leaves off.
This works so much better that picking up a few weeks or months later. When an author skips ahead, she inevitably uses flashbacks to the time that was missed. Roth doesn't do that, keeping the writing and flow clean. Instead of easing readers back into the story, Roth sucks us back in with the snap of a finger.

2. The break-neck pace refuses to be put down.
I read so many tweets about people forcing themselves to slow down, to savor Insurgent for as long as possible. Not me. I love being so absorbed in a story that everything else falls away, and Roth maintains the same intensity all the way through. The only downside is waiting over a year for Book 3, which until further notice shall be known as Detergent.

3. Tris and Tobias have a real relationship.
One of Insurgent's major themes is the role of secrets and trust in relationships. I dig a great love story just as much as the next girl, but I'm tired of the old standby that THIS ONE SPECIAL LOVE can withstand anything, and can never be undone. Real people have problems. Real people have insecurities. Real people make mistakes that are hard to forgive. These things don't weaken the power of love; they prove how amazing it is, that it survives anyway. Tris and Tobias react to their situation and keep secrets in a way that feels authentic to me. It's the same quality that attracts readers to Katniss in The Hunger Games, only Tris is more relatable. She carries the burden of guilt and expectations the same way that I might, in her situation.

I loved Insurgent. I realized flipping through Goodreads the other day that my ratings tend to skew high, which isn't really fair to the true 5 star books. A second book in a trilogy is a difficult monster, but I truly feel that Roth knocked it out of the park.

Insurgent is everything I hoped it would be.

Music for today: Hysteria by Muse

Today I'm reviewing Reunited by Hilary Weisman Graham, as a part of an ARC tour with the Southern Book Bloggers. Reunited will be released on June 12th, 2012.

The Summary:

In middle school, Alice, Summer, and Tiernan were best friends and the world's biggest fans of the rock band Level3. But everything changed when they started high school. The band broke up, and the girls went their separate ways. Four years later, Level3 announces a one-time reunion show in Texas. Alice buys three tickets, the trio sets off on a 2000 mile road trip, and the girls learn if their former friendship has what it takes to survive being Reunited.

The Review:

Reunited is a fun summer read, told from the alternating points of view of Alice, Summer, and Teirnan. Graham explores how and why friendships change with the catchy, common thread of the girls' love for a rock band, complete with lyrics from Level3. The three girls are all unique and well drawn.

I enjoyed how the characters tested the boundaries of new adulthood through both their physical and emotional journeys. Graham excels at layering dimensions into the plot. The biggest drawback for me was a failing in my suspension of disbelief. When I read contemporary YA, I like to have a strong sense of reality. Many of the scenarios just pushed my limits of what could be plausibly real. I kept asking myself where the girls were getting the money to do things, when none of their parents seemed to be wealthy. But I know many readers want a level of fantasy in their contemps, so I don't think this would be a problem for every reader.

Reunited would be a great beach read, and I would recommend it to someone looking for a contemporary YA without a strong romantic element. 3 1/2  out of 5 stars.  

Music for today: Eyes Wide Open by Gotye

May 1st marked two amazing book birthdays. Veronica Roth's follow-up Insurgent, and Kristin Cashore's Bitterblue, the long-awaited sequel to Graceling.





Reading these two books back-to-back illustrated how sequels can be very different but equally fantastic. I'll be reviewing Insurgent for YA Book Club later this month, but I can't help comparing and contrasting a little for my review of Bitterblue today.

Bitterblue is about a young queen struggling to rule after her sadistic father, King Leck. It can be read as a stand-alone novel, but it is both a sequel to Graceling and a companion book to Fire. I strongly recommend reading Graceling and Fire first, in that order, to fully appreciate Bitterblue. With that in mind, I'm using a format to keep the review as spoiler-free as possible. For me, the two strongest qualities of Bitterblue are the characters and pacing.

In Cashore's world, a graceling is someone with a special 'grace,' or talent, marked by eyes of two colors. Both her graceling characters and the non-graced are all complex and realistic, with both endearing qualities and weaknesses. As in many fantasies, the sheer number of characters could overwhelm the reader, but Cashore paints even her minor players so completely that they enhance the story rather than distract from it.  And then there's the villain. Her villain is one of the most atrocious, chilling characters I've ever read. And I've read more than my fair share of Stephen King. On that front, Bitterblue is not for the faint of heart.

I read Insurgent in less than 48 hours, in the midst of multiple family sicknesses. It's that kind of book, with a break-neck pace that I couldn't put down for long without running back to it. But I took a solid six days to read Bitterblue. I was equally invested in unravelling the mystery, but each time I sat down to read it, I wanted to be fully immersed. Sometimes I put it down for a few hours to let the events stew before moving on. I'm accustomed to reading faster-paced YA, and I would normally say that I prefer it. But Bitterblue is an example of a perfectly executed, slower, building pace, and of the two books, Bitterblue is still sticking with me more, days after finishing.

If you enjoy fantasy of any type, I highly recommend Bitterblue. 5 out of 5 stars.

Music for today: Bandages by Hot Hot Heat