Steph Su Reads

Review: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

2012-02-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

Tags: YA, contemporary, Australian lit, art, graffiti, he-said/she-said, romance

Summary

Lucy is a girl on a mission: her friends corral her into finding romance the night after their Year Twelve graduation, and in a sense, she’s doing that. For Lucy is determined to find the elusive graffiti artist known as Shadow, whose paintings all over town make her feel like this is the guy for her.

Unfortunately, looking for Shadow means hanging out with Ed, the high-school dropout with whom Lucy shares a not-so-great history. Tagging along with Ed may be what Lucy has to endure in order to find Shadow, but Ed has a secret that just might make—or break—their night together…

Review

Australian authoress Cath Crowley burst into my life last year with her US debut, A Little Wanting Song, which was beautiful and sad and gratifying and made my heart ache in ways that, in some ways, felt like a reaffirmation of how much words could make me feel. She’s done it again with her second book to be published in the US, GRAFFITI MOON, becoming another example of why more Americans should take note of the astounding YA that Australia has to offer.

GRAFFITI MOON is a Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist without the hipster music references and excessive foul-mouthiness. For me this is a really good thing, as I can enjoy the cuteness of a he-said/she-said story in which we readers know more than the characters about what’s going on, without crashing into the f-word every other sentence. (Gosh, Nick, for serious, to what effect is your display of your highly creative vocabulary?) Lucy and Ed had my heart from the start: I love a good story where boy and girl hate one another even though there’s some obvious attraction going on.

It would be pointless to write a review on any of Cath Crowley’s books without mentioning her way with language. The woman obviously has poetry flowing through her veins, bred into her genes. Reading GRAFFITI MOON is an experience for your poetic taste. Some authors can draw scenes that paint themselves vividly in your mind; Cath Crowley does that, and she crafts phrases that just make you sigh, so extraordinary do they look on the paper, feel in your mouth. She can write descriptions like “The heat rising from the takeaway place nearby makes the air look like satin” and make you wonder why anyone ever bothered to describe that visual phenomenon in any other way.

GRAFFITI MOON is a study in words, not quite characters or plot. Supporting characters are marvelously quirky or ridiculous, and brighten up any scene. You don’t quite read Lucy and Ed’s alternating POVs to better understand their persons, for, as is expected, their voices sound fairly similar. At times the plot can feel a little draggy, because Lucy and Ed do quite a fair share of talking. And the one “bad guy” in the story feels pretty flat, that side plot appearing and dissipating somewhat clunkily.

Nevertheless, reading GRAFFITI MOON was a delightful experience, as, I hope, rereading it will be, too, one day in the future. For I have no doubt that I will come back to this story, to savor again and again the skill that Cath Crowley can wield in writing.

Cover discussion: Mmm, there's a reason why I featured this in a Cover Lust post. It's a super-cool combination of artsy and quirky, youthful and whimsical.

Knopf / Feb. 14, 2012 / Hardcover / 272pp. / $16.99

(The best gift to give your bookish loved one for Valentine's Day!)

Physical copy gifted by the incredibly generous Trish; e-galley provided by Random House and NetGalley. Thank you all for contributing to my Cath Crowley fangirldom!

Review: Beauty and the Werewolf by Mercedes Lackey

2012-01-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

Five Hundred Kingdoms, Book 6 (Book 1 review)

Tags: fantasy, magic, retelling

Summary

Practical Isabella Beauchamps manages her household while her stepmother and stepsisters engage in their beloved social outings and shopping excursions. However, on a visit to Granny in the forest, Bella is bitten by a werewolf—who turns out to be Lord Sebastian, whom no one has seen in years. Well, being a werewolf is more or less a good reason for someone to be a recluse. In order to determine whether or not Bella will turn into a werewolf from the bite, she must live at Sebastian’s place for three full months. While there, she discovers the existence of magic and The Tradition, and the fact that Sebastian’s under a curse. Can this young lady, new to magical understanding, be the one to discover who wishes Sebastian harm?

Review

I know that Mercedes Lackey is a long-established fantasy writer, and I’ve enjoyed her unique take on fairy tales and magic in other Five Hundred Kingdom books, but unfortunately, BEAUTY AND THE WEREWOLF didn’t quite do it for me. I was expecting more, but mostly what I got was a lot of people sitting in a castle, talking and reading about magic.

It’s not that there are things wrong or bothersome about the elements of the story. I like Bella well enough: she is the type of strong and capable protagonist I can relate to. Bella’s interactions with the invisible spirits of Sebastian’s castle are pretty neat as well, good for a few chuckles. And Sebastian is a total sweetheart, the kind of slightly socially awkward love interest that is endearing in the midst of so many testosterone-fueled, my-bicep-is-bigger-than-your-bicep fictional romantic interests.

Unfortunately, I’m not really sure if there are many more unique aspects of this book to recommend it besides for the aforementioned details. When I said earlier that the book consisted of people sitting in a castle, talking and reading about magic, I was not really exaggerating. Confined to the castle, most of what Bella does is learn more about magic, and The Tradition, Godmothers, the curse… The majority of the book is one very long and drawn-out information dump on magic.

What could have been a more original story instead turned out to be an info dump disguised as the main character beginning to understand her new perspective on the world—which is weird because, as this is the sixth book in the series, there should be no info-dumping necessary for readers. Not, sadly, Mercedes Lackey’s most impressive story. In fact, I wonder if, without her established name on it, this book would’ve gotten by agents and editors at all.

Luna / Oct. 18, 2011 / Hardcover / 336pp. / $24.95

e-galley provided by NetGalley and publisher.

Review: Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

2012-01-24T09:30:00.000-05:00

Tags: YA, contemporary, football, sports, love triangle

Summary

Jordan Woods is the best high school quarterback in the state of Tennessee, but the people who really matter—her father, and the coach of her dream college football team—don’t take her seriously, just because she is a girl. All Jordan wants is to sign with Alabama, but her life gets turned upside down when a hot new quarterback, Ty, joins the team. Ty is making her want things she’s never really thought about before. Can she still remain herself and yet end up with the guy of her dreams?

Review

Honestly, is every book that claims it is the next Dairy Queen going to end up being a huge disappointment? D.J. Schwenk’s title as Best “Rural” Tomboy has still not been usurped—has hardly been challenged, I think. CHASING JORDAN takes place in a setting where football is big, yes, but for me, that’s where the similarities end.

CHASING JORDAN was a typical YA “dramatic luv” story hiding under a sporty exterior. Sure, there was talk of Jordan being Tennessee’s best quarterback, but all real aspects of state-level varsity sport life soon fell by the wayside, overpowered by the drama of a typical teenage love triangle. Ty never fully developed into a believable character for me. Maybe that had something to do with the outcome of the book, but I don’t think that that is a valid reason for having one-dimensional characters: one can write believable, three-dimensional, and sympathetic characters without forcing them to pair up into happily-ever-afters (see: Donna Freitas). I wanted more sport, less “typical teen love drama”—but “teen luv” was exactly what I got.

But I think what bothered me the most—and perhaps this is just a “me” thing, but I’ve become incredibly sensitive to these things, and, come on, it’s 2012—was CATCHING JORDAN’s complete and utter dismissal of possible “alternative” lifestyles. I hesitate to even use that term “alternative,” since, like I said, it’s 2012, and gosh darnit, people can live whatever lifestyles they want! I understand, marginally, that CATCHING JORDAN is set in the American South, but I was so, so disappointed during that stupid Home Ec scene with the fake babies and the students needing to pair up to be “husbands and wives,” and everyone automatically turning to the only guy in the class, as if being paired up with a female classmate is the end of your social life. What is this, the 1960s? Add to that a story setting in which lots of guys are constantly together, and all they can think about are ditzy cheerleaders. Seriously. Ditzy cheerleaders. In a YA world where cheerleaders can be popular yet real people (again, see: Donna Freitas), this kind of cardboardism is so passé, it’s not even fun anymore. It’s just sad.

CHASING JORDAN’s main premise—of Jordan learning how to embrace her female desires and fall for a guy—was so bland that it allowed me to focus on all the little things about the setup of the story that bothered me and have now made their way into my review. If you’re picking this up because you want a simple love triangle story, that works; however, if you’re looking for a smart and fun book featuring the sports-related travails of a female athlete, you might do better to look elsewhere.

Cover discussion: It's cute in that generic way that covers get when they want to illustrate the sports aspect of a book that is supposedly about sports but really only has sports as a premise for the more inane story of teenage drama...OH WAIT.

Sourcebooks Fire / Dec. 1, 2011 / Paperback / 288pp. / $8.99

e-review copy received from NetGalley and publisher.

In YOUR Mailbox Giveaway!

2012-01-23T19:55:00.001-05:00

allmarksweets.co.uk

As some of you may know, I am currently back in the States for a brief week of vacation. Sorting through all the books that came for me while I was gone is no joke! I've been busy reading through as many of them as I can... but I also want to share some of them with you. And so, I'm doing a quick impromptu giveaway. Next Monday (my last full day in the States), I will mail out several boxes full of books for several winners (final number to be determined). The boxes will contain a combination of ARCs and finished copies, soon-to-be-published books and recently released books... it's hard to say what, exactly, I will put in your box if you win. If you're willing to take the risk, fill out the form below! US only, ends Sunday, January 29, 2012, and winners will be notified through email. Good luck!

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Loading...&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

A Wrinkle in Time 50th Anniversary Blog Tour: Revisiting A Wrinkle in Time

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

A Wrinkle in Time, that crazy, weird, intense work of children's literature that, if you read it when you were a child, was probably your first introduction to science fiction and time travel, is turning 50 this year. 50 YEARS OLD! That's practically GRANDMA AGE! Whoa. With the blindingly speedy shelf turnover rate for YA bookshelves these days, 50 years is nothing to scoff at. To celebrate, Farrar, Straus and Giroux has released a gorgeous 50th anniversary commemorative edition of A Wrinkle in Time, and Big Honcho Media has put together a massive blog celebration, celebrating 50 years of A Wrinkle in Time over 50 days and 50 blogs.

As a stop on the blog tour, I am writing today about...

Remembering My First Experience with A Wrinkle in Time...

Like many lucky readers, I read A Wrinkle in Time for the first time when I was probably 9 or 10 years old. Here are the few things I remember myself reacting to upon that first read-through:

The space-and-time travel. Of course I didn't completely understand how it worked, and I remember staring at that page where Mrs. Whatsit is explaining to the children about space and time's different dimensions using stick figures for hours, trying to puzzle it out. But from this book probably developed the first inklings of my now-avid interest in astrophysics, relativity, string- and m-theory, and all that good stuff.
OH MY GOD, CHARLES WALLACE AND IT. THAT BRAIN. AHHHHHHH. That scene gave me NIGHTMARES. I'm serious. NIGHTMARES. I had NIGHTMARES about Charles Wallace's, blank, pale blue, pupil-less eyes, and IT's evil red glow. I think that scene became the setup for every nightmare I had when I got sick and could feel my blood pulsing through my veins in that shivery, extra-sensitive way that sensations get when you're sick. Eeeeeep.
That I read the book with this cover:

lol. Back in the day when books had these sorts of covers. I'm not sure what I found more laughable/sad at 10 years old: Meg's glasses and mousy brown hair (I apologize: an ignorant fourth grader, and would have rather that Meg had straight hair, like me), the centaur-like creature, or the lilies that they are all holding.

...And Revisiting It Now

Rereading A Wrinkle in Time a few days ago, in a way, pulled away the mystical shroud that always seemed to surround this title. This wasn't a favorite of mine when I was younger, though I was definitely glad I read it. But, in rereading A Wrinkle in Time, I rediscovered just how much a work of children's literature can accomplish. Doubtless I absorbed half of what this book contained in terms of themes and motifs when I was 9. Now, however, I understood more of what Madeleine L'Engle wove into this iconic story: the need for humanity to be aware of and to resist the easy ways of evil, how heroes and heroines can be made of the most unexpected people, and the power of love to defeat the bad.

I always love rereading my favorite childhood books, but this time, I realized even more what children's literature can do: to plant the seeds of important thoughts and morals into the minds of children without them being aware of it, to be explored and nourished as the child grows and lives and learns and experiences more. Anyone who says that children's and young adult literature is not important because of their audience should reread some children's lit classics. We were all children once, which is why it is so crucial for the formative years to be filled with rich, exciting, imaginative, adventurous, emotional, and thought-provoking literature.

To anyone who belittles those who work in the fields of children's and young adult literature, I pity you. Really. There's a magical and beautiful formation of the truest and most essential human spirit that can develop in childhood and adolescence. Far from needing less children's literature, less education, less professionals in these fields, we need much, much more. It is the people who grew up reading great works of children's literature that can add to the goodness of the world.

The 50th Anniversary Commemorative edition features:

Frontispiece photo*†
Photo scrapbook with approximately 10 photos*†
Manuscript pages*†
Letter from 1963 Caldecott winner, Ezra Jack Keats*†
New introduction by Katherine Paterson, US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature †
New afterword by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Voiklis including six never-before-seen photos †
Murry-O’Keefe family tree with new artwork †
Madeleine L’Engle’s Newbery acceptance speech

* Unique to this edition
† never previously published

Check out A Wrinkle in Time's Facebook page, and see the list of other blogs participating in this blog tour here.

A Wrinkle in Time: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition will be available in hardcover from Farrar, Straus and Giroux on January 31, 2012.

Top Ten Books I'd Recommend to Someone Who Doesn't Read Classics

2012-01-17T09:30:00.000-05:00

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is, "Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To Someone Who Doesn't Read X," and I have chosen to write about...CLASSICS!

Now, classics have a pretty bad rap. As the common thing that many students are forced to swallow in school, to the exclusion of all other types of literature, it's often associated by the YA audience as something boring and irrelevant and too dense for modern times. Therefore, I feel lucky to have been able to encounter a fair share of amazing classics, whether through required reading or self-discovery, and would like to share some of them with you, to see if you would be inspired to pick it up and see if you enjoy it as well!

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
This classic is a tome at over a thousand pages, but it might be one of the most awe-inspiring tomes about revenge you'll ever read. The amount of detail Dumas writes into describing Dantes calculated, decade-long vengeance on a dozen high-status society members is completely amazing compared to some of the mysteries and revenge plots written today. I blazed through all 1300 pages of this in a little less than week, it was that engrossing. Get the unabridged Penguin Classics edition translated by Robin Buss and read read read.

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
What classics list of mine would be complete without this book? Austen effortlessly infuses her writing with the sort of "British parlor" humor (read: superficially pleasant but actually quite biting) that many contemporary authors don't quite seem to pull off. This 200-year-old love story still rings as passionately today as it did then--and maybe even more so.

3. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The precursor to contemporary novels written in diary format. Also, in some ways, the precursor to the present-day YA novel, what with teenage Cassandra being the witty narrator--kind of like an early-twentieth-century British version of Jessica Darling (yes, that's right, that Jessica Darling)--and us seeing the unfolding of this book's events through her diary entries. There is quite a bit of giggle-inducing romance in here too.

4. The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor
Another writer with the gift of a type of humor that is not as prevalent in today's writings. This collection of award-winning short stories is chock-full of hypocritical, ridiculous, and self-deluded characters. Now normally, I hate reading about whining and delusional characters, but O'Connor's "distant narration" makes it so that you're never supposed to empathize with the characters, and instead can gawk at them as specimens of the horrid potentials of humanity. My favorite story is "A Good Man is Hard to Find." That grandmother! That ending!

5. The Rebel of the Family by Eliza Lynn Linton

This strange Victorian novel may no longer be published outside of academic presses, it's still worth checking out if you're interested in Victorian novels, the New Woman movement in Victorian England, and the kind of odd writing that results in no characters we can connect with or really even admire, not even the protagonist. That may sound unappealing, but The Rebel of the Family is also quite amusingly sharp in its satire, in the style of Austen. There are definitely plenty of things to wonder about regarding the author's stance on women's rights, etc. I read this twice for two different English classes in college and found it a fascinating read each time.

6. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Eliot may be more well known for Middlemarch, but I like this one a little more, because of its slightly more accessible narration (as opposed to Middlemarch's often stifling "omniscient narration"). It's not every day that an author can make me both like a character yet want to throttle her at the same time. I also think that this novel contains one of the most romantic love letters I've ever read. But I won't spoil anything else for you. :)

7. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
I don't know how to describe this novel. It's an expose on the scary lingering effects of the Vietnam War. It's poetry. It's a groundbreaking exploration of the capacity of the written language. It's so, so, so good.

8. The Complete Grimm Brothers' Fairy Tales
Like fairy tale retellings but never read the originals? Nearly every single freaking fairy tale you can think of is in this ridiculous collection. Ridiculous because it is quite flabbergasting how morbid the Grimm Brothers were. Daughters willingly amputating themselves and villains pulled apart by horses and evil trolls stealing babies!

9. Sula by Toni Morrison
This is such an interesting take on female friendship by a stylistic powerhouse author. Morrison is a beautiful writer, and many parts of this will ring true to those who ever questioned the veracity and strength of their friendships.

10. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
I somehow managed to skip this growing up, but even reading it just a few years ago, I became utterly engrossed in the March women's lives. I tore through this book in two nights. It has the kind of familial and sisterly charm that I feel like anyone at any age can love.

What classics do you love and would recommend to other readers, like me?

Review: Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

2012-01-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

Healer, Book 1

Tags: fantasy, magic

Summary

After a devastating plague and war, Avry is the last surviving Healer, a person with the abilities to absorb others’ pains and injuries unto themselves. Every day her life is in danger from people who, resentful of the Healers who did not heal the population during the deadly plague, want to annihilate the rest who survived.

After several years of hiding, Avry is captured by a group who want her to heal the prince of another territory. Avry struggles with duty—her job as Healer compels her to treat all injuries and patients equally—and desire—will healing the prince bring about more pain and destruction in the war between the Territories? But as former rulers emerge from the ruins of the Territories and reamass magical armies, Avry realizes that her ability may make her extremely desirable to all her enemies.

Review

I always long to get my hands on the newest Maria Snyder novel. With exciting premises and beautiful covers, they always look so full of promise! Unfortunately, TOUCH OF POWER was a disappointment to me. Nondescript characters and a seemingly endless adventure-plot led to an exhausting read that was overwhelming yet unfulfilling.

Good things first: as always, Snyder manages to create a new world full of political and magical intrigue. Among the plague-torn Territories and as-yet-unexplored possibilities of the various strains of magic that exist in the land, there is a lot of potential for the development of future stories. The history and workings of the world gradually unveil themselves as the plot streams along, unfurling various kingdoms, political characters, and unique magical characteristics (like the Peace and Death Lilies).

Unfortunately, the subtleties of this fantasy world feel swamped under an endless barrage of plot-related “movement.” From the very first chapter, the characters always seem on the move: they are always going from place to place, hiding from mercenaries, taking random sideplots into rescuing random people in distress, encountering figures from their past and then blazing past whatever tension could develop, and so on. Chapters and fictional time fly by with little absorption of the important things that are actually going on—what shadows from the characters’ pasts affect their present-day behaviors? What terrible things have the villains done that make them truly villainous?

Overall, TOUCH OF POWER felt like a high-tech, nonstop-action, frenetic movie, in which things explode, long treks over varied terrains occur, and people hook up. This can be a fun read for a younger reader who enjoys a story in which the characters are constantly on the move, but compared to Snyder’s other series, I still vastly prefer the excitement and subtleties of the Study books.

Cover discussion: I love how Maria Snyder's books always get such vibrant covers, but I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I'm not the biggest fan of how that model looks, or is posed. Is it supposed to purposely look like a painting?

MIRA / Dec. 20, 2011 / Paperback / 400pp. / $14.95

e-galley from NetGalley.

Cover Lust (33)

2012-01-14T10:30:00.000-05:00

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

(Harcourt / May 8, 2012)

What a lush, colorful, and evocative cover this fairy tale retelling has! I think my favorite part might be the shockingly pink flowers near the top: little splashes of spirit-lifting color.

The Selection by Kiera Cass

(HarperTeen / April 24, 2012)

I feel like there's been more and more a trend of full-bodied (or at least not faceless) girls in pretty dresses on YA speculative fiction covers recently. I'm not sure how I feel about this girl's dress, but I love the funhouse-mirror-esque effect going on behind her! This cover is so shimmery and alluring.

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

(Margaret K. McElderry / Sept. 11, 2012)

Am I... is that... can I believe my eyes? Is that really a strong and beautiful POC female on the cover?!?! Wow. Wow wow wow. I love the lighting, and the smoke, and the translucency of the title, and of course I love that model, a thousand times over. Be still, my trembling heart. (But really, on the inside I'm screaming, "I want this in poster size on my wall!!!!")

The Jade Notebook by Laura Resau

(Delacorte / Feb. 14, 2012)

This cover makes me yearn for bikini weather, warm waters, and sunshine. That is all.

Exile by Rebecca Lim

(HarperCollins Australia / May 28, 2011)

Muse by Rebecca Lim

(HarperCollins Australia / Oct. 27, 2011)

Books about angels always get such pretty covers.

-

Which of the above covers is your favorite? Have you seen any covers lately that you're lusting over and that you want to share?

Review: Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

2012-01-13T12:00:00.001-05:00

Unearthly, Book 2 (Book 1 review)

Tags: YA, paranormal, angels

Summary

Lost after what happened the day of the forest fire, Clara Gardner continues to struggle with the many duplicities in her life. She is part-angel, and yet her mother won’t tell her the full truth about who she is and what she’s meant to do on earth, and in the meantime she has to pretend to be a normal girl attending high school in Jackson, Wyoming…which is beginning to feel like it’s home to a few too many angel-bloods. She loves her boyfriend Tucker—wholly Wyoming hottie, wholly human—but cannot deny her connection with Christian, the angel-blood who had been appearing in her visions even before she moved to Jackson.

When Clara begins having visions of someone she loves dying, she is forced to come to terms with the fact that she belongs to a complicated, and sometimes even dangerous, world that will never be as normal as she wants.

Review

By now most of you know how I feel about YA paranormal romances. We’ll just leave that at that. But there are a handful of YA paranormal books that I would be less skeptical of, less hesitant in considering reading, and Cynthia Hand’s interesting and well-written angel series is one of those few. Despite it unfortunately taking on a few more “YA paranormal cliché” characteristics, HALLOWED remains a well-written and even funny second book in the trilogy.

One of my favorite parts of Unearthly was Clara and her narration. Too many paranormal YA female protagonists have no personality, no sense of humor. Clara has both. I can’t get enough of the moments when she actually pokes fun at her own fictional genre, referencing the melodramaticness of YA paranormal romances, love triangles, and stalker paranormal love interests. I love when fictional characters are, metaphorically, self-aware: it happens so rarely that I’m inclined to laugh out loud and share with everyone around me when it happens.

Unfortunately—although in some ways I suppose it was inevitable—HALLOWED acquired a few more YA paranormal conventions as it continued Clara’s story. Despite its subtle jabs at Twilight, Twilight fans will like this series, and HALLOWED reminded me of that pervasive YA paranormal franchise more often than I would have liked. HALLOWED dilly-dallies: the story within probably could’ve been told in 150 pages instead of more than 400. It contains few surprises: a large portion of the book seemed to consist of Clara waffling between Tucker and Christian.

Sadly, the attractive and confident Tucker of Unearthly is reduced to being stubborn and petty and just not all that appealing in HALLOWED. Methinks I spot a setup for the third book in here…? And Clara finds out something shocking about herself, thereby changing her from “(relatively) ordinary girl we can empathize with” to “character whose struggles are legitimized by her newfound understanding of herself and her role.” If Hand had wanted to blow readers away with so-called shocking revelations and twists in HALLOWED, well, let’s just say that all I felt was a tickle of a breeze.

HALLOWED wasn’t as strong of a read as Unearthly was for me, but fans of Unearthly should still love this second installation in the series. Despite its at-times conventional plot development, HALLOWED is still a well-written and unique take on the angel concept—emphasis on “well-written.” A strong successor to both the deserved and not-quite-so-deserved financially successful YA paranormal series.

Cover discussion: What was a stunning cover in the first book last year just seems kind of stale now. I suppose my tastes have evolved.

HarperTeen / Jan. 17, 2012 / Hardcover / 416pp. / $17.99

e-review copy provided by NetGalley and publisher.

HARBINGER Trailer Reveal!

2012-01-12T08:30:00.001-05:00

I don't watch book trailers often, but every time I do watch one, I'm blown away by how professional it is, how like an actual movie trailer. Penguin Young Readers Group has brought to my attention the just-released trailer for Sara Wilson Etienne's debut novel, HARBINGER, for which I helped reveal some original artwork based on the book back in November. Check out how insanely movie-like the trailer is!

Or watch it here: http://holbrookacademy.com/image.php?vid=trailer.

HARBINGER synopsis:

Set in a world in which a diminishing oil supply has lead to chaos and mass rioting, sixteen-year-old Faye is plagued by waking visions and nightmares. Her parents think the only solution is to send her to Holbrook Academy, the creepy prison-like school for disturbed teenagers. When she and her friends wake up on the floor with their hands stained red, Faye has no idea what it means, but fears she may be the cause. But despite the strangeness of Holbrook and the island on which it sits, Faye feels oddly connected to the place. The handsome Kel tries to help her unravel the mystery, but Faye is certain he is trying to kill her –and the rest of the world too.

HARBINGER comes out from Putnam Juvenile on February 2, 2012. Learn more about HARBINGER and Holbrook at the super-thorough Holbrook Academy website!

Shanghai During the Holidays

2012-01-11T09:50:00.001-05:00

I just love the sight of poinsettias. It's like I see them and immediately think, CHRISTMAS! The sight of them is inextricably linked to the rich scent of a whole day's worth of cooking in my great-aunt's apartment, the sweet stickiness of pine sap on my fingers, and the soft tearing of wrapping paper with family.

Lovely Christmas tree inside a shopping center near my apartment. I particularly like the luscious BOOKS that are piled on top of the presents.

I have no idea who this character is, nor if it has anything to do with Christmas or the holidays (I suspect not), but isn't he so... adorably protective? I wanted to take a picture with it, but it was being bombarded by a three-year-old girl, and I thought it'd be mean of me to ruin her moment.

Nighttime lights near my apartment. *happy sigh*

Plaza 889 near my apartment.

It made me feel a little like I'm home, near New York City, with the trees drenched in Christmas lights. Not a bad way to end up spending the holiday season, considering how I had been working 12-hour days by the end of December. :)

Review: The Survival Kit by Donna Freitas

2012-01-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Tags: YA, contemporary, grief, hockey

Summary

After her irrepressible mother dies of cancer, Rose finds a “survival kit” that her mother made for her, a paper bag containing several objects that are supposed to help Rose overcome her grief. As Rose slowly comes to terms with the tragedy, her interactions with the objects in the Survival Kit invariably affect her relationships with important people in her lives, from her father, to her ex-boyfriend, to her friends, to the boy who might be her new love.

Review

Donna Freitas is arguably YA’s best kept secret: her books are released with little fanfare, yet they are all beautifully, subtly written contemporary stories that linger in readers’ emotions for a long time to come. THE SURVIVAL KIT takes on a premise that has become unfortunately conventional in terms of contemporary YA plots, and manages to make it into a heartwarming, memorable, and utterly unique story.

Strangely enough, THE SURVIVAL KIT begins with a slew of clichés: the dead mother, the alcoholic father, the ex-cheerleader protagonist with her quarterback boyfriend and token POC best friend. It wasn’t long, however, before THE SURVIVAL KIT began to set itself apart from other books containing these clichéd elements. There may be cheerleaders and football players in this book, but the characters are not gag-inducing stereotypes: they are truly nice, flawed, well-intentioned…refreshingly normal people.

Rose is grieving, yes, but she’s working to get back to a place where she was once a creative and golden-hearted girl, and is thus not only defined by her grief for her mother. Other characters, too, retain that level of subtlety. Props go to Rose’s quarterback boyfriend and her former cheerleading teammates for not sounding like cardboard characters. Will is appreciably swoony, but THE SURVIVAL KIT’s strength lies in gradual and immersive character development, which puts this book a cut above other YA books about grief.

A successful retelling of an easily clichéd premise and characters that feel truly real combine to make me say: Bravo, Donna Freitas. THE SURVIVAL KIT may not have the flashy synopsis that bestselling lists love, but I hope that word of mouth will help this well-deserving book find a home in the hands of numbers of appreciative readers.

Similar Authors
Jandy Nelson
Tara Kelly

Cover discussion: It grew on me! At first I thought it was kind of weird, to have a model but to not have it be a photograph. But now I think that its uniqueness really matches Rose, and hopefully makes it stand out from other books.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Oct. 11, 2011 / Hardcover / 368pp. / $16.99

ARC received for review from publisher.

Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

2012-01-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Tags: YA, contemporary, romance, family, divorce, London, airplanes

Summary

It starts when Hadley misses her transatlantic flight to London to attend her father’s second wedding to a woman she’s never met. Luckily for her, the next flight contains Oliver, who’s going home for family-related business. It seems utterly ridiculous to feel such a strong connection to a stranger you’ve known for less than 24 hours, but in between coming to terms with her father’s remarriage and her new definition for “family,” Hadley will find out that anything is possible.

Review

I have been hearing about how wonderful this book is for almost one whole year before I finally got the chance to read it. Not only did THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT (er, henceforth known as STATISTICAL) not disappoint, it gave me more than I had expected.

STATISTICAL is sold as a love story, and it is that, to a lovely degree, but then it is also more. The unfolding of Hadley and Oliver’s romance over 24 hours could have been too cloying, too rushed; however, Jennifer Smith paces the story like a pro. As we read the book, we see easily how Hadley and Oliver have an enviable instant connection, but it is not insta-luv, no—rather, the romance unfolds over interesting but not blaringly obvious significant conversations, filled with lots of flashbacks and self-revelations.

Indeed, that, to me, was the best part of the book—the fact that it was not merely a love story, but also one of the most mature and empathic stories about understanding divorce that I’ve ever read. At the start of the book, Hadley is still not over her father’s desertion of her and her mother, to marry a woman she’s never met. But no one is solely the villain or the victim here: throughout informative and understandable flashbacks, Jennifer Smith reveals Hadley’s family’s history, and by the end, readers have strong hopes that things will work out for the best.

I am, unfortunately, super wary of YA romances nowadays, but I like how Smith develops Hadley and Oliver’s connection. Hadley is real: she’s not the silly protagonist who needs a guy to save her, nor is she the petulant teen just ripe for character development. Oliver doesn’t come off as an impossible-to-believe perfect guy: he is, to my heart’s delight, simply an above-average-intelligence college student with the type of familial concern and lighthearted flirting that you can expect out of any guy, given that you give him a chance. And STATISTICAL is Oliver’s chance. I totally dig that, had he not been a main character in this story, he would’ve been just another nice college guy who would eventually end up with his happy ending. In that sense, STATISTICAL felt more like a privileged glimpse into the random encounter of two very ordinary people, and I don’t think I can stress in mere words how lovely that is.

I admit that I had hesitations about how much I’d like this book, despite others singing its praises. Jennifer Smith’s omniscient writing has had its times when it did not work for me in the past. However, for THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT, the balance between internal monologue, flashbacks, and present-day action achieved a delectable balance. Channeling the best of authors like David Levithan, Jennifer Smith’s newest novel is one that fans of subtle romances and family dilemmas will surely appreciate.

Similar Authors
David Levithan
Maureen Johnson
Sara Zarr

Cover discussion: It's funky! It's artsy and a little all over the place and a little sweet. Kind of like some cool artwork I'd expect to find in the Village (that's Greenwich Village, in New York City).

Poppy / Jan. 2, 2012 / Hardcover / 256pp. / $17.99

e-review copy received from publisher.

Review: Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews

2012-01-05T10:30:00.003-05:00

Kate Daniels, Book 5.4

Tags: urban fantasy, magic, shapeshifters

Summary

Work and play rarely stay separate for new lovers Kate and Curran—which really means that it is always work, and hardly ever play—and so when their dinner date comes to a screeching halt with the dangerous appearance of a deadly necklace, it really isn’t all that surprising. Enlisting the reluctant help of the Masters of the Dead, delusional Vikings, and scary dwarves, Kate and Curran set off to discover the origins of the necklace in order to save lives.

Review

It’s the best day of the week…month…(year)…when a new Ilona Andrews book comes out, and it’s even better when it’s a story in Kate Daniels’ world. MAGIC GIFTS may only be a novella, but it was just the thing to whet our appetites with some more of Kate and Curran, and set our senses tingling for the arduous wait until Kate #6.

Perhaps the husband-and-wife writing team that makes up Ilona Andrews has the world’s best/wickedest sense of humor, because MAGIC GIFTS gifts us with more of the delightful humor that we love about the series. Maybe the magical scenarios get wackier and wackier as Ilona Andrews researches more deeply into more and more countries’ mythologies, but I’m willing to believe anything and everything they write, simply because A) they make the mythologies merge effortlessly with their fictional world, and B) the characters have the best sense of humor ever, all the while still being remarkably “human” (despite them, er, not being fully human).

MAGIC GIFTS is a full enough story to be a satisfying read on its own. It’s a must-read for Kate Daniels fans, though not a necessary read—although you should obviously still read it!

This e-book novella is available FREE for a limited time only--as in, only for the next couple of days--so head over to the website to get your copy now! http://www.ilona-andrews.com/magic-gifts/.

Steph Su Returns

2012-01-04T09:50:00.000-05:00

Well, the title of this blog post might be a bit misleading. I'm still in China. I've been on the Internet, didn't impose an Internet ban on myself or anything. But it's true that I haven't really been active on book-related stuff in the past month or maybe even two. Yes, work took over nearly all of my waking hours (seriously, I was in the office 12 hours a day during the last two weeks before the Regular Decision college application deadline. I will now severely criticize any and all authors who get any part of the process wrong, or "tweaks" deadlines and notification dates to suit their plot, as I have said many years ago), but it wasn't just that.

Quite frankly, I had a crisis of faith.

It's probably still ongoing. I still catch glimpses of nasty blogger-reader-author-publisher shenanigans on Goodreads, Twitter, on blogs, Facebook... everywhere I turn, something was happening that caused me to lose a little more hope in humanity. That, on top of my "real life" of living in Shanghai, China, set me spiraling into God-knows-what direction. I'm not a city person, and China is currently in a state of trying to figure out its place in the world and in contemporary history, and that apparently involves some moral crises. I seriously contemplated getting rid of a lot of things that I was scared was weighing me down: the social "face" I was trying to keep up on Facebook, Twitter, this blog, even Goodreads. I've barely even answered emails for the past several months. (Sorry about that, everyone who's tried to contact me.)

The trouble is that social media has become such a fixed part of our lives today that it's really hard to remove yourself entirely. So, no, I won't quit the Internet entirely (although that's not completely out of the question at some temporary point in the future), but I've been rethinking my boundaries, what I'm willing and not willing to put out on the Internet, what I'd rather keep to myself. I'm trying to remove as much negativity from my life as possible, and most of the negativity, I've learned, comes from me worrying too much about what others think of me. (Yes, I'm a college graduate and I still feel that way. This is why YA and I will never fully break up.)

This affects--or will affect--my blogging because I am going to take a step back from the networking/negotiations part of it and just do my own thing for a while. I need to get back into the feel of blogging, and I don't want it to become yet again something that stresses me out because of this obligation to this author or that obligation to that publisher. So I'm going to take it slowly. I'll blog when I want, what I want, and I'll stop when I want to also. I'll be online when I want, and I'll not be online when I don't want to. This sort of stuff seems really stupidly basic, but I feel like I've gotten frazzled to the point where I need to lay out these very basic rules for myself in a concrete manner. I'm not looking for acclaim or recognition or notoriety right now, because I'm not in the state of mind where I can take those sorts of expectations, whether external or internal.

So... a tentative wave of hello to you. :)

Review: East by Edith Pattou

2011-12-15T11:23:00.000-05:00

Tags: YA, fantasy, retelling, Scandinavia

EAST is the tale of Rose, who sacrifices her freedom to save her sister, grows to care for the cursed white bear who is her “captor,” unwittingly betrays him, then goes beyond the ends of the earth to make things right. It’s a classic folktale that never fails to move me, but Edith Pattou’s retelling of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” went above and beyond, astounding me with its magical rendering of a traditional story and simple literary elements.

EAST is not extraordinarily sophisticated in writing style: narration alters between several different voices, and none of them particularly stand out as individual examples of great literariness. However, the magic of EAST lies in how these common elements—straightforward prose, a retelling—fit together. The multiple narrators adds a unique rhythm and scope to the story that makes the whole so much more than the sum of its parts.

Edith Pattou sets EAST in historical Europe, and the story traverses lands, cultures, seas, and languages for an astonishing and engrossing read. This is the second retelling of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” that I’ve had the pleasure of reading, and I’m astonished at the different directions in which each author took this folktale. I’m no history buff, but I was mesmerized by Edith Pattou’s description of the various people that Rose meets on her journey, by the variety of people and cultures that existed over great distances at the same time.

Words fail me when I try to describe an extraordinary book; indeed, there is no part of this book that was not amazing, and thus there is no part that I can describe well. There is a reason I still see this book in bookstores: it has the rare lasting power that only the most accomplished of fantasy reads possess.

Cover discussion: It's quite unique and memorable. A loving artistic rendering of a lovely book.

Graphia / May 1, 2005 / Paperback (reprint) / 528pp. / $8.95

Personal copy.

Review: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

2011-12-01T09:15:00.000-05:00

Sevenwaters, Book 1

Tags: fantasy, retelling, family, sorcery, Ireland

Summary

Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of a seventh son who is constantly at tensions with his neighbors over land. Sorcha spends most of her days playing and being loved by her six older brothers, but when an evil sorceress bewitches her father and puts her brothers under a terrible spell, only Sorcha can break it—though it might be the death of her.

Review

I was one of those kids (I’m sure you’ve known a few of us) who read our Complete Grimm Brothers’ Fairy Tales cover to cover until the book was in tatters. Among the hundreds of extraordinary—and, admittedly, some not-so-extraordinary—tales, however, the one about the girl who must endure great travails to free her six older brothers who have been turned into swans has always been one of my favorites, because it’s just so emotional, and the girl is so admirable. Happily, Juliet Marillier keeps my favorite aspects of the original fairy tale, and dresses it up in an astounding world of Irish historical culture and intricate political relationships.

Unlike other retellings that may push aside the original for the sake of setting, DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST stays true to the tale at its core. Sorcha endures almost unimaginable sufferings in her quest to free her brothers, gets unwillingly pulled into social politics, and is wrongly accused of things that were not her intention. She is a strong protagonist not because she’s very active, but simply because she endures. The first 150 pages or so feel a little slow, but once the book moves into the frameworks of the original tale, I couldn’t put it down.

This is a book I would’ve loved to death back when I first started reading fantasy in middle school, alongside lifetime favorites like Robin McKinley and other admirable fantasies by authors like Garth Nix. As it is, DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST is still an incredible book, full of the richness of my favorite kind of high fantasy. I’m glad I chose this one as my first Marillier book, and look forward to reading her other books in the future.

Tor Books / Feb. 18, 2002 / Mass market paperback (reprint) / 560pp. / $7.99

Personal copy.

This Is Teen Giveaway!

2011-11-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Big Honcho Media, I have a trio of boy-friendly books from Scholastic to give away to one lucky person! Just in time for the holidays, eh? Here is some info on the books:

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

In the aftermath of a war, America’s landscape has been ravaged and two thirds of the population left dead from a vicious strain of influenza. Fifteen-year-old Stephen Quinn and his family were among the few that survived and became salvagers, roaming the country in search of material to trade for food and other items essential for survival. But when Stephen’s grandfather dies and his father falls into a coma after an accident, Stephen finds his way to Settler’s Landing, a community that seems too good to be true, where there are real houses, barbecues, a school, and even baseball games. Then Stephen meets strong, defiant, mischievous Jenny, who refuses to accept things as they are. And when they play a prank on the town bully’s family that goes horribly wrong, chaos erupts, and they find themselves in the midst of a battle that will change Settler’s Landing forever.

Underdogs by Markus Zusak

Before The Book Thief, Markus Zusak wrote a trilogy of novels about the Wolfe brothers: The Underdogs, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, and Getting the Girl. Cameron and Ruben Wolfe are champions at getting into fights, coming up with half-baked schemes, and generally disappointing girls, their parents, and their much more motivated older siblings. They’re intensely loyal to each other, brothers at their best and at their very worst. But when Cameron falls head over heels for Ruben’s girlfriend, the strength of their bond is tested to its breaking point.

iBoy by Kevin Brooks

Before the attack, Tom Harvey was just an average teen. But a head-on collision with high technology has turned him into an actualized App. Fragments of a shattered iPhone are embedded in his brain. And they’re having an extraordinary effect on his every thought. Because now Tom knows, sees, and can do more than any normal boy ever could. But with his new powers comes a choice: Seek revenge on the vicious gangs who rule the South London housing project where he lives, and who violated his friend Lucy? Or keep quiet and move on? Not even the search engine in his head can predict the shocking outcome of iBoy’s actions. A wifi, thriller by YA master Kevin Brooks.

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Visit This Is Teen on their Facebook page.

One winner will receive all three books. This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only, and ends Tuesday, December 13. To enter, fill out the form below. Good luck!

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Author Interview with Julie Kagawa!

2011-11-24T22:39:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to my American-ish friends, wherever in the world you are! I'm a little late in putting up this interview with Julie Kagawa, which is part of a blog tour to promote her newest book, The Iron Knight. Welcome, Julie, to Steph Su Reads!

1. Out of all four books which has been your favorite to write?

I think my favorite to write was The Iron Queen, because that's when everything came together; the last battle, Meghan's destiny, her and Ash's fate, all the loose threads that wove together as this was the final fight. And it was satisfying seeing Meghan's story finally come to a close. Everything worked out, with the exception of her and Ash, of course, but that's where The Iron Knight comes in. ;-)

2. What are some of your favorite martial arts movies? Classics, animated, or modernized.

Too many to list, lol! But here are a few: Yojimbo, The Seven Samurai (anything by Kurosawa, actually), Ip Man, The Forbidden Kingdom, Zatto Ichi, Lone Wolf and Cub, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (hush), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, and the list goes on. (Don't even get me started with anime, we'd be here all night.)

3. Had you already started Blood of Eden series before the Iron Fey series, or did the idea come from nowhere and wouldn't disappear?

I'd been toying with a post-apocalyptic world as I was finishing up The Iron Knight, but the idea to add vampires didn't come until my agent and I were discussing ideas for my next series. She mentioned that HarlequinTEEN was on the lookout for vampire books, and the idea to mesh the two together just sort of clicked.

4. Is Puck going to get his own book? Are you going to do any spin offs of other characters now that Ash and Meghan are together? Any chance for a novella of Ash and Meghan's new life together in the Iron Kingdom?

There is a spin off series in the works. This time it's Ethan Chase, Meghan's younger brother, as the protagonist, and I'm sure there will be many a cameo, including the original four. But that's all I can reveal at this time.

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Thanks, Julie! If you've been following the Iron Fey series, be sure to check out its fourth and latest installment, The Iron Knight, now available in bookstores!

Review: Illyria by Elizabeth Hand

2011-11-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

Tags: YA, magical realism, theatre, incest

Summary

Madeleine and Rogan are first cousins from a large family whose lives intertwine beyond just the usual ways: they are each other’s first loves, and they both have a passion for the theatre. As they participate together in their school’s production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, changes force them to evaluate their relationship, as well as what the future holds for them, both together and apart.

Review

ILLYRIA was far from what I expected. I wanted something slim yet fulfilling, with a magic that is solidly grounded in reality. Instead, I felt no connection to the characters, and felt like the author was trying to go for mood instead of engagement, with the end result that neither was accomplished.

Content aside (because there have been other YA books written about incest), how is ILLYRIA a YA book? It reads like the work of an adult author who chose to write about teenaged characters without any real consideration for the emotions that teenagers may feel. Madeleine and Rogan’s togetherness lacked actual affection, both in the way Rogan treated Madeleine and the way Madeleine narrated their relationship with an old-woman-at-her-confessional manner. Characters spoke to one another with no real purpose behind their conversations except—well, in my opinion, except to fill up the pages, to give off a “mysterious” vibe at their ambiguous feelings and statements. And I hate hate hate when things in stories only appear for the purpose of accomplishing something—in this case, the author’s unrealized intention of creating an eerie yet compelling atmosphere throughout the novella.

ILLYRIA could have been an interesting, subtly magical, and deeply unsettling story. I think, however, that it was definitely marketed to the wrong audience, and thus I can’t commend it as a work of YA literature.

Similar Authors
Jeffrey Eugenides
Clare Dunkle
Alyssa Sheinmel

Cover discussion: Oh, but the cover I do like. It captures the "magical realism" intention perfectly--like intruding on this couple's lives by scrutinizing them through a dusty snowglobe.

Viking Juvenile / May 13, 2010 / Hardcover / 144pp. / $15.99

Personal copy.

Review: Saving June by Hannah Harrington

2011-11-18T09:50:00.001-05:00

Tags: YA, contemporary, grief, road trip, romance, music

Summary

Struggling to deal with her perfect older sister June’s suicide, Harper sets off on a road trip to California, accompanied by her best friend, Laney, and Jake Tolan, a boy who was somehow connected to June. Harper is not sure what their road trip will accomplish, except that it was always June’s dream to go to California. However, their journey takes unexpected twists and turns as Harper learns about Laney, Jake, June, and herself in a trip that none of them will forget.

Review

SAVING JUNE is a debut YA contemporary novel that lives up to its hype: it is a wonderfully told story that weaves standout characters and a genuine passion for music into a journey that is moving for Harper as well as for us readers.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I’d like SAVING JUNE at first. The beginning one-fifth of the book had more than its fair share of features that are all too common to YA books dealing with grief—or, for that matter, any YA contemporary story: the main character with suppressed anger towards her dead sibling, the dead sibling, the more outgoing best friend, the good-looking mysterious boy with secrets, the over-the-top ridiculous mean relative. I mean, there is a “life-changing road trip,” for goodness’ sake.

Once Harper, Laney, and Jake finally, finally hit the road, however, it was like someone had flipped the switch and turned on the life to this story. Spending weeks together in a car is really a great way to get to know characters: personalities clash, secrets are revealed, and unshakeable bonds develop. The three main characters completely grew on me. Harper’s grief became less plot-driven (i.e. there for the sake of the story) and more character-driven (genuine poignant grief over June’s death). Laney started out as simply the outgoing best friend, but grew to have more depth than I initially thought.

As for Jake, well, his character development definitely impressed me the most. You’d have to be slightly naïve not to guess what role he plays in the story, but what impressed me was that his “ideal love interest” character developed not from a set of parameters thrown at us at the beginning, but, rather, gradually through the course of the story, each new chapter revealing another lovable aspect of him. Authors, take note of how to write a truly swoon-worthy love interest, please.

All in all, SAVING JUNE pleased me to no end. It broke the constraints it imposed on itself by having a rather tired premise and, through genuine and memorable characters, makes itself stand out in the crowd. If you love YA contemporary, please, do yourself a favor and give this a try. Odds are you won’t regret it.

Similar Authors
Courtney Summers
Lili Wilkinson (Pink)

Cover discussion: Well, this is a, um, quite morose cover for this book. I definitely didn't pay attention to this book on account of its cover, until people started raving about it.

Harlequin Teen / Nov. 22, 2011 / Paperback / 336pp. / $9.99

Requested for review from NetGalley.

Waiting on Wednesday (118)

2011-11-16T09:45:00.000-05:00

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Eighteen-year-old Luddite Elliot North has always known her place in this caste system. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. But now the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress and threatening Luddite control; Elliot’s estate is floundering; and she’s forced to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliott wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she abandoned him.

But Elliot soon discovers her childhood friend carries a secret—-one that could change the society in which they live…or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she has lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s PERSUASION, FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

I have been intrigued by this book ever since Diana announced its deal a while ago. A dystopian/steampunk-ish retelling of a Jane Austen novel? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! (The Pride and Prejudice movie quote was totally unintentional, by the way.) Diana is remarkably good at writing realistic and relatable characters, and I can't wait to see how she does this. CANNOT. WAIT.

For Darkness Shows the Stars will be published in hardcover by Balzer + Bray on June 12, 2012.

Author Interview with Jaclyn Dolamore!

2011-11-15T08:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I posted my review of Jaclyn Dolamore's lovely book Between the Sea and Sky (Bloomsbury / Oct. 25, 2011). Today I have for you an interview with the authoress herself! Welcome, Jackie, to Steph Su Reads!

1. The characters in BETWEEN THE SEA AND SKY have such beautiful names: Esmerine, Dosinia, Alander. How did you come up with them?

They just come to me. Which makes it sound easy! But sometimes the right name can take MONTHS to come to me. When I first started writing I was calling the mermaid "Millea" but it never sounded right... The story didn't actually get going until I found Esmerine's name.

2. Alander is an interesting and complicated character: a bit of a literary snob, but also deeply loyal. Who were your inspirations for Alander?

I saw him as kind of a Mr. Darcy figure but with an intellectual bent. I've periodically known guys like him, too, where you'll be talking about something and they'll, like, reference Dostoevsky or something, and you'll think, "Ooh, he's smart, I like smart" and "God, but Dostoevsky? How pretentious" at the same time.

3. What was the most interesting job you had?

The first job-let I ever had was working a booth at an anime convention. My sister and I were at a convention and this guy is like, "Hey, you want to work for me?" Like, he would just show up to a convention and hire reasonably attractive girls (the better to get anime nerd boys to part with their dollars) on the spot as they browsed his booth. We didn't have anything else to do at the convention so we spent the rest of the day working the booth and at the end he paid us in merchandise. We then used this to convince our parents to take us to Anime Weekend Atlanta, because he got us in for free. It was a lot of fun, but grueling. We had to work the entirety of the dealer room hours, which was like 10 hours, without any break or barely any food (and the whole time I was wearing a Fushigi Yuugi costume complete with those little cheap Chinese shoes with NO support) and in the end I was paid in anime soundtracks. I had an awesome collection of anime soundtracks after that, though. I always worked the CD section because I could read some Japanese and so I could find CDs for people much easier than everyone else.

www.moviegoods.com

4. What are some of your favorite mermaid stories, both classic and new?

I love Splash, in all its 80s movie glory. And The Little Mermaid in various incarnations--the heart-wrenching original, the Disney version. As a kid I was obsessed with Saban's Adventures of the Little Mermaid.

5. What is your favorite thing about autumn?

Cooler, drier weather, in theory, although living in Florida we're lucky to see much of my true favorite weather, with a high of about 60, until December. (With any luck next year I'll be living in Maryland.) Ditto for changing leaves...I love them, but they don't really change here! Autumn is my favorite season, actually, but in Florida it's kind of a big tease, where you only get hints of the best parts.

6. What is your favorite Miyazaki film? (This can be expanded to include all Studio Ghibli films.)

My two favorites actually are not Miyazaki films: Whisper of the Heart and Only Yesterday. They are both slice of life stories, that capture certain aspects of what it's like to grow up and find your place in the world, as well as to fall in love, although in Whisper of the Heart, the growing up and falling in love happen together, in the moment, and in Only Yesterday we see flashbacks of the protagonist's childhood, and then her current life going to rural Japan, a sort of "back to the land" thing. Both have beautifully rendered backgrounds of Japan, but they aren't fantastical like so many Ghibli films. To my chagrin, Only Yesterday still has not been released in the US. But I am also a big fan of Miyazaki himself. Howl's Moving Castle is my favorite of his, but I love so many of them!

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Thanks for answering my questions, Jackie! Whisper of the Heart is also, in my opinion, one of the best Studio Ghibli films ever (remember my old blog banner?). I hope you consider checking out Between the Sea and Sky when you have the chance!

Blog Tour Review: Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

2011-11-14T08:40:00.000-05:00

Tags: YA, fantasy, mermaids

Summary

Now that Esmerine has finally become a siren, she can’t wait to guard the underwater mermaid world from overly curious humans alongside her older sister Dosia. But when Dosia seems to have been kidnapped by humans, it is up to Esmerine to enter the human world and find news about Dosia. Esmerine is forced to accept the reluctant help of Alander, the winged young man who used to be her friend and taught her how to read. But it’s been years since they’ve talked, and they are now, more than ever, aware of the great differences that separate them. What happy ending can occur for these former friends who have come from such different worlds?

Review

BETWEEN THE SEA AND SKY is a mermaid book for those who are wary of books categorized by the particular creatures that inhabit the stories. Told in Jaclyn Dolamore’s trademark writing style—straightforward narration that nevertheless paints a lush magical world—BETWEEN THE SEA AND SKY is a charming story that, while not perfect, is still a quick and enjoyable read.

Much like in her debut novel Magic Under Glass, Jaclyn Dolamore has the quiet but valuable ability of deftly portraying elaborate new worlds with no over-fanfare. The first few chapters pulled me completely into the unfamiliar mermaid world of Dolamore’s creation, where magic lanterns are borrowed as a sign of status and being chosen as a siren is one of the highest honors a mermaid can receive. Mermaids, humans, winged people, and who knows what else exist in an unusual society that nevertheless seems to operate in a completely natural and self-contained manner—the mark, in my opinion, of a skilled world-building writer.

Where this book falters a bit is in plot and pacing. BETWEEN THE SEA AND SKY starts out so engagingly, with the introduction of this new mermaid world, and the somewhat uneasy dynamics between the different creatures. Unfortunately, I felt that the plot was rather uneven: for a great amount of time, Esmerine is simply waiting to hear of news about her sister, and then the next thing we know she and Alander are off on a confoundingly simple adventure to seek Dosia. I say “confounding” because, with such a wonderful beginning to a novel, I really wanted more from the plot.

That being said, BETWEEN THE SEA AND SKY is a humbly sparkling story that will make for a sweet read one quiet afternoon. If you are a fan of mermaids or Magic Under Glass, Jaclyn Dolamore’s sophomore novel is not to be missed!

Cover discussion: A gorgeous work of art, befitting the world of this book.

Bloomsbury / Oct. 25, 2011 / Hardcover / 240pp. / $16.99

eGalley courtesy of publisher and NetGalley.

HARBINGER Art Reveal!

2011-11-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

So today, I'm part of a very special blog tour. Upcoming debut author Sara Wilson Etienne has put together a cool blog tour that reveals pieces of original artwork inspired by her debut novel, HARBINGER (Putnam Juvenile / February 2, 2012). Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Girl, Interrupted meets Beautiful Creatures in this fast-paced thriller.

When sixteen-year-old Faye arrives at Holbrook Academy, she doesn’t expect to find herself exactly where she needs to be. After years of strange waking visions and nightmares, her only comfort the bones of dead animals, Faye is afraid she’s going crazy. Fast.

But her first night at Holbrook, she feels strangely connected to the school and the island it sits on, like she’s come home. She’s even made her first real friends, but odd things keep happening to them. Every morning they wake on the floors of their dorm rooms with their hands stained red.

Faye knows she’s the reason, but what does it all mean? The handsome Kel tries to help her unravel the mystery, but Faye is certain she can’t trust him; in fact, he may be trying to kill her—and the rest of the world too.

Rich, compelling writing will keep the pages turning in this riveting and tautly told psychological thriller.

Click on the image below to go to the full-resolution image!

Walk the Path! Explore the whole gallery of HARBINGER-inspired artwork at www.holbrookacademy.com/sketchbook.php.

HARBINGER by Sara Wilson Etienne debuts February 2nd, 2012.

Follow Sara: @wilsonetienne

Visit Sara: www.sarawilsonetienne.com

Review: Legend by Marie Lu

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

Legend, Book 1

Tags: YA, dystopian, he-said/she-said

Summary

In the war-happy Republic, located in the former western United States, 15-year-old Day is the most wanted criminal. Not because he’s the most dangerous, but because his elusiveness—he was supposed to have died five years ago, after all—discredits the Republic’s control. When Day’s latest break-in leads to the death of Captain Metias Iparis, Metias’ little sister, the child prodigy June Iparis, vows to be the one to hunt Day down.

But as their lives cross paths and they get to know one another, the truth they learn about the Republic will change them forever…

Review

A premise that sounds like a dystopian Robin Hood? You didn’t have to ask me twice if I wanted to read this. Marie Lu provides us with a solid dystopian read in her debut novel that, while not incredible, still proves to be very enjoyable.

LEGEND’s strength lies in Lu’s writing. Written in alternating POVs, Day’s and June’s voices feel completely natural: both of them have genius-level intelligences, which shows in the way they approach and analyze situations (a great relief from those YA novels whose main characters claim to be smart but then they do or think the most idiotic things). LEGEND will appeal to readers who like their dystopian books endearingly unsentimental, in the way Katniss is a reluctant but still beloved hero. Both June and Day are like that: they are very focused on what needs to be done, and do not exhibit the types of thoughts or behavior that normal teenagers do.

This makes it believable that they live in a world where violence is part of the job description. This is no half-hearted dystopian world: the government does things that leave even me shocked and uncomfortable. LEGEND will surely become one of those books that censorship-happy critics target due to its darkness.

The trouble is, LEGEND’s violence does feel a bit gratuitous. It’s not that I have qualms about violence in YA fiction; I love The Hunger Games, after all. It’s more that I still struggle to understand what purpose the violence in LEGEND serves, except to make the government as scary as possible. But the revelation that June and Day uncover about the government is rather anticlimactic, considering all the setup. I feel more scared by less violence-proven fictional dystopian governments, such as The Giver’s, than I did by LEGEND’s over-the-top controlling government.

While I adored June and Day individually, I felt like their romance left something to be desired. Here, I suppose, is where their age shows, for their mutual attraction seemed to arise more out of the fact that they each find the other to be different than anyone they’ve ever met and less due to an actual liking of one another. Still, I did like them individually, and thought they were pretty well developed in that regard. I had no problem with those two as the main characters, but perhaps if the book hadn’t been sold to me with such a heavy emphasis on an epic romance I would’ve been more impressed.

So LEGEND is not perfect, but solid writing and two sympathetic main characters make it a cut above most other dystopian YA out there. Dystopian fans will surely want to keep this on their radar, though perhaps toning down your expectations a notch will make it a better read for you.

Similar Authors
Veronica Roth (Divergent)
Suzanne Collins

Cover discussion: Um, this cover is FANTASTIC. I love how it goes in the vein of The Hunger Games and is a simple design, yet devastatingly effective at drawing your attention. What's even cooler is that inside (the ARC, at least), Day's sections are printed in gold. Wonder if they'll keep that in the finished copy. I don't see why they wouldn't!

Putnam Juvenile / Nov. 29, 2011 / Hardcover / 336pp. / $17.99

Sent by publisher for review.

Review: Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

2011-11-03T10:10:00.001-04:00

Dearly, Book 1

Tags: YA, paranormal, steampunk, zombies

Summary

Several centuries into the future, Nora Dearly, daughter of a renowned and recently deceased doctor, lives in New Victoria. Her physically comfortable but emotionally stifling life is shattered when she is kidnapped by what appears to be an army of good zombies…and finds out about a virus that infects humans and turns them into either good or bad zombies.

As Nora learns more about “the Laz,” the government’s cover-up, and the truth behind her father’s death, she spends time with Bram, an intelligent and kind-hearted zombie. Bram may technically be dead, but he still cares about others—especially, as they get to know one another better, Nora.

Can Nora and Bram’s feelings for one another find a place in the midst of the looming catastrophe?

Review

Oooh. DEARLY, DEPARTED was fun, fun, fun. If one overlooks some inconsistencies in worldbuilding, supporting character development, and plot, then Lia Habel’s paranormal/steampunk debut is a charming read that’s sweet and funny.

I’m at the point now with my YA reading where any mention of a romance in the synopsis puts me on guard. Because, come on now, how many more insta-romances, too-good-to-be-true boys, or dickwad love interests do we really need? This, however, is why Nora and Bram stood out to me so much. The multi-POV narration (admittedly unnecessary at times) really added to this couple’s attractiveness, both to one another and to us readers. Bram is a total sweetheart who is nevertheless also a guy, not some ideal creation of a love interest.

The premise is moderately well-developed and the pacing uneven at points—quite action-packed in the beginning, followed by uneven spurts of information and a climax that felt the tiniest bit rushed. But it’s the characters that make DEARLY, DEPARTED stand out from the pack of paranormals or steampunks being released. These characters are a RIOT! They deliver the most wonderful zingers in their dialogue that made me literally guffaw. DEARLY, DEPARTED may be set in a futuristic/anachronistic world that may require a bit of suspension of disbelief, but these characters could be kids in any high school today. Lia Habel fills her characters with heart instead of ideals, with the result that readers will have a good time hanging out with Nora, Bram, & Co.

If you’re looking for a funny and romantic speculative fiction read this fall, consider checking out Lia Habel’s debut novel, DEARLY, DEPARTED and be prepared to be thoroughly entertained!

Similar Authors
Cynthia Hand
Scott Westerfeld

Cover discussion: It's a lovely image, one that I would love to have as a print. However, after reading the book, I'm not sure if I think this picture does the story justice. That girl just doesn't strike me as having Nora's feistiness. But hopefully this will encourage paranormal romance lovers to pick it up...?

Del Rey / Oct. 18, 2011 / Hardcover / 480pp. / $16.99

Sent by publisher/author for review. Thank you!

Review: All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins

2011-11-01T10:15:00.000-04:00

Tags: contemporary romance, humor, veterinarians, Vermont

Summary

Callie Gray knows that she should’ve gotten over first kiss, boss one-time fling, and love of her life Mark years ago. Yet when Mark gets engaged to a woman who is everything she’s not, Callie finally decides to attempt to move on. Unfortunately, in their sleepy Vermont town, there aren’t that many candidates. The most eligible bachelor, the new vet, Dr. Ian McFarland, is antisocial and seems to have a stick up his bum. And yet Ian is precisely who Callie keeps on running into. As their paths continue to cross, Callie begins to wonder if she may actually be able to love Ian after all…

Review

The problem with reading my first two Kristan Higgins novels back to back is that, the second time around, the formula becomes glaringly, embarrassingly obvious. In one breath, here are the characteristics that, after reading just two of her books, I suspect hold throughout all her novels: a theoretically smart female MC (often a middle child with an unusual interest or hobby) with a bad history in men and who turns into idiots around men, a quirky family, a cantankerous grandparent, an over-hyper and disobedient canine pet who gets talked to in frighteningly embarrassing babytalk, eCommitment and horrible blind online dates, a gay best friend… I guess I’ll stop here for now (although I’ll just say: seriously, a requisite gay best friend? Isn’t that so 1990s?).

Furthermore, the plot progresses at pretty much the same “ratio”: for example, the requisite lovers’ misunderstanding occurs at around 85% of the way through the novel. GAH. I don’t know whether I should laugh at the unapologetic adherence to a formula, or cry a little.

Now, I understand that this is romance and that bestselling romance often follows a formula that everyone knows yet still loves. And yep, that’s pretty much the case here. This is classic Higgins (if one who has only read two of her books is allowed to reach such a conclusion after having just dissected her formula in a disconcertingly easy way). Callie is likable (and has the requisite quirky hobby!), and her awkwardness/stupidity around men is still infuriating yet relatable. Zany humor abounds in conversations. The dog is still annoying.

But Ian. Oh, Ian. He totally makes this book. Think a blond, Slavic version of Mr. Darcy, with a reticence slightly reminiscent of Asperger’s but with puppy-like loyalty that is hard to earn but oh so worth it. Shy guys! Stories these days are overflowing with guys who know they’re good-looking and know how to say just the right thing to get what they want. Ian, however, has NO CLUE what he’s doing most of the time, as far as relationships go, which makes his rare right actions all the more genuine and truly endearing. We need more Ians in stories, that’s for sure.

It’s probably going to be hard for me to pick a favorite Higgins romance, because they all follow pretty much the same formula, and yet are all so much fun to read. Hopefully this review will push you in the right direction and encourage you to pick up a book by Kristin Higgins! And if you already have, well, let’s just giggle and gaggle and gossip together over which Higgins man we’d like to have for ourselves…

HQN Books / July 27, 2010 / Mass Market Paperback / 384pp. / $7.99

Personal copy.

Yu Garden: A Tourist Necessity

2011-10-28T11:55:00.000-04:00

Oh, hi there, from your favorite neglectful book/travel blogger. I just checked my archives and it's been over two months since I posted about my new life here in Shanghai. Heh. I'm telling you, I'd much rather talk about the fictional worlds I travel to in books, rather than the actual worlds I live in. October has also been a craaaaaaaaazy month for work, what with the November 1st ED/EA deadline. Work six days a week, work from home in the evenings, work work work... like, I love my job, but I'm not at my most efficient when it comes to constant exposure to the same elements...

Anyway, Shanghai. Back in August, my grandfather and one of my brothers hopped the Strait (from Taiwan) and paid me a visit, yay! Too bad they brought with them a sort-of typhoon. We checked out Yu Garden (豫园), a supremely touristy food-and-shopping place:

It was PACKED. I dislike crowds.

But it is gorgeous and interesting. Peddlars hawk all different sorts of wares: my favorite was a kind of glass artwork in which artists take small glass bottles and draw intricate designs or pictures on the inside of the bottles using the tiniest sliver of a brush. Visitors line up for half an hour to get their hands on the food at a famous Shanghainese tourist snack place.

We also entered Yu Garden proper, a stone garden that required an admission fee to enter. But it was so worth the 30rmb, because the insides were lovely, all stone walls, classical architecture, and water that flowed from one area into another.

The fish were freakishly aggressive! Visitors would sometimes toss crumbs to the fish, whipping them into such a frenzy that they would swim over one another and out of the water in order to get closer to the source of food.

The wonderful thing about Yu Garden proper was that, within its walls, the madness of the city seemed to fade away, replaced by an utterly lovely sense of tranquility, even despite all the tourists wandering around. I could totally see why the Chinese of the past would want such private gardens. It's a place that I would definitely consider revisiting for its calming sights, that's for sure.

Pretty pretty, even in spite of the gloomy skies, no?

Review: The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle

2011-10-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, contemporary, grief

Summary

Laurel’s life shatters when she loses her entire family in a car accident. As she struggles to move on while trying to figure out where her grief—or other people’s knowledge of her tragedy—fits in, David, the boy-next-door whose parents were also involved in the same accident, seems to move in and out of her life. Tragedy separates the two with a seemingly uncrossable chasm, and yet maybe they need one another above all in their different, yet mutual, grief.

Review

Oh, this book. Sigh. In the beginning I had no interest in reading yet another YA contemporary talking about grieving the death of family members. There’s really, truly only so much I can read about grief plots. But then, inspired by high praise from early reviewers, I was convinced to give THE BEGINNING OF AFTER a shot—only to wish, after a long and drawn-out struggle, that I had just stuck with my original instincts.

To give credit where credit is due, I actually quite admire what THE BEGINNING OF AFTER attempted to do, and that is to talk about the less sympathetic aspects of grief. Meaning: When strangers learn of your tragedy and offer to do you favors, do you accept or reject? When classmates start paying more attention to you as a result, how do you react? I admire that Jennifer Castle unflinchingly let Laurel explore these unappealing and perhaps even shocking aspects of losing loved ones, because it’s the truth: tragedy is tragedy, but tragedy in some cases is also opportunity, and we’d be willingly blindfolding ourselves if we don’t acknowledge that.

However, I forced myself to get to the halfway point before I finally had to knowledge that absolutely nothing relevant to the premise has happened yet. The first half of the book is such a trove of Things to Avoid When Writing Yet Another YA Novel About Grief: popular girls approaching the MC, formerly uninterested guys approaching the MC, former best friend drifting away, etc. You might ask, where’s David? as the very idea of him begins to seem far more interesting than reading about every single minute detail of Laurel’s life. Well, you see, that’s a very good question. Because for the first half of the book, David’s mostly on the other side of the country. How’s that for plot and character development?!

Readers, I’m done. Maybe the second half of this overly long book has some merit, but if you’ve given me a 400-plus page book in which approximately 150 of the first 200 pages could be condensed into three chapters, I’m going to hand it write back to you and tell you to do some heavy rethinking in terms of revisions before you ask me to take it seriously.

Cover discussion: It's pretty and evocative, in the way that many YA novels about grief are. Too bad the contents of the book don't quite live up to the prettiness of the cover.

HarperTeen / Sept. 6, 2011 / Hardcover / 432pp. / $17.99

Requested for review through NetGalley.

Review: Too Good to Be True by Kristan Higgins

2011-10-21T09:55:00.000-04:00

Tags: contemporary romance, humor

Summary

Grace has a bad habit of making up boyfriends to get out of awkward situations, divert a pity party, and more. Her latest fake boyfriend—a golden-hearted pediatric surgeon—comes in the weeks leading up to her youngest sister’s wedding…to Grace’s ex-fiance. Of course, it doesn’t take a surgeon to see through her stories, as evidenced by the fact that her neighbor, Callahan O’Shea, an ex-con-turned-handyman with whom she got off on a rather clumsy foot, seems to have figured out her most embarrassing habit. With her sister’s wedding looming but her having not yet fully moved on, Grace needs to find an eligible (read: real) man to transfer her affections to…

Review

More chick-flicky romantic comedy than the more scandalous affairs I’ve become used to when it comes to romance, Kristan Higgins’ writing will have you smiling, bouncing, and sighing over this straight-up romance with the best of intentions.

Grace is a smart and funny woman with a really awkward weaknesses when it comes to talking to and about guys that will make you both pity and empathize with her. Sometimes her stupidity when it comes to guys drove me crazy: you kind of just want to shake her and yell in her face, SNAP OUT OF IT, ALREADY!

But when Grace is not making a fool of herself regarding guys, she’s the best, with an endearingly geeky love of Civil War reenactments (have you ever met a character who was into Civil War reenactments? I didn’t think so) and appreciation for teaching history. This makes it totally possible for us to cheer for her happy ending, when she finally gets it…and Callahan is no slacker in the “ideal guy” department, if yanno what I mean.

Complete with zany family members and laugh-out-loud dialogue, Kristan Higgins’ books will now be on my radar forevermore when I’m looking for a sweet and funny romance. Highly recommended!

Cover discussion: From here on out I exempt myself from discussing covers of mass market paperback romances. The end.

HQN Books / Mar. 1, 2009 / Mass Market Paperback / 384pp. / $7.99

Personal copy.

Review + Interview: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, contemporary, grief, teen pregnancy, adoption

Summary

Jill MacSweeney thinks that her mother’s way of dealing with her father’s death—adopting a baby—is absurd. After all, you can’t replace a lost loved one with a new person. And someone else’s arrival precedes the baby’s—Mandy, the teen mom. Mandy has had a rough life, and living with the MacSweeneys in the weeks before she gives birth feels like paradise—although knowing that it won’t last definitely puts a damper on it. Can these two hurting teens, coming from such different backgrounds, find a way to accept, and maybe even love, one another as their lives intertwine in hurt, grief, and hope?

Review

I’m kind of ashamed to admit that, when it comes to Sara Zarr’s novels, I appreciate them as good literary examples, but otherwise don’t often connect with them as much as I feel I should. HOW TO SAVE A LIFE is no exception. Once again, Sara Zarr elevates the writing of a common yet controversial topic to a literary level, but falls short of the emotional connection I need to consider books and authors my favorites.

HOW TO SAVE A LIFE’s strength lies not in a flowing plot, but rather in the inner thoughts of the characters. Thus, this book will work better for you if you like character-driven novels. Just to make it straight, I like strong and well-developed characters as much as anyone, but I admit to being disappointed when character-driven novels come at the expense of real plot. And this book has a lot of inner monologue, but not much plot. Jill and Mandy are fine main characters if you like ‘em passively angsty and full of inner monologue. But really, the plot—or the lack thereof—really drags. Jill goes to school and angst with her faux-friends, and Mandy stays at home and angsts. Fun times.

The truth of the matter is that I feel like HOW TO SAVE A LIFE attempts to do so much more than it actually ends up doing. There’s a POC love interest, an unusual family situation, teen pregnancy, abuse, the ending of a relationship…but I never felt the full power or emotions that each one of these deserves. In short, I felt like this book tackles YA clichés without much oomph behind it.

Some character-driven novels with little to no plot can make me climb on top of tables and blast-sing its praises (see: Melina Marchetta); HOW TO SAVE A LIFE, however, kind of just made me hum a little, under my breath. I recognize that my appreciation-but-not-love for this book is totally a personal thing, because the majority of people have loved and probably will love this book. Just putting another point of view out there, for any fishies who want to bite.

Similar Authors
Elizabeth Scott

Cover discussion: The scene makes some more sense after reading the book. However, I can't get past that stupid song by The Fray every time I think about this book or see its cover...

Little, Brown / Oct. 18, 2011 / Hardcover / 352pp. / $17.99

Review copy requested from NetGalley.

Interview with Sara Zarr

1. What was the very first scene, character, predicament, etc. that came to you when you started writing HOW TO SAVE A LIFE?

This book actually started with a writing prompt from NAMING THE WORLD, a great book on craft edited by Bret Anthony Johnston. The initial scene, from the prompt, was basically what became the first chapter - Jill waiting, with her mother, for the train that brings a pregnant teenager, Mandy, into their lives. When I went back to that exercise months and months later, I thought, "Hey, this is a story!" I had questions: Why did Jill's mother want to adopt, at her age? What did Jill think about it? Why didn't Mandy want to keep the baby, and what were the circumstances of its conception? The story unfolded from there.

2. Which character in HOW TO SAVE A LIFE do you relate to best?

Anyone who knows me will see a lot of Sara in Jill. In my late teens and early twenties, especially, I was very sarcastic and impatient, and intolerant of people, and all of that was a mask for pain and insecurity. I wanted to keep people at a certain distance to avoid any mess or potential loss or abandonment.

3. Would you consider writing in a different fictional genre? What other genres appeal to you as a writer?

There are a lot of things I'd like to try, including adult fiction, screenwriting, short fiction. Maybe even something fantastical or historical if I had the right idea.

4. What was the best piece of writing advice you ever received?

I'm not great at answering questions about "bests", but here's a good, practical piece of advice I almost always heed: leave off every writing session in the middle of a scene or, even better, the middle of a sentence. That takes care of the momentum or blank page problem that can keep so many of us from getting our work done.

5. Current guilty pleasure(s)?

I try not to feel too guilty about any pleasure, but I think a lot of people I know would frown upon my love of country radio.

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Thanks for answering my questions, Sara, and thanks to Ames for setting up this blog tour. The next stops on the tour are:

10/19 - largeheartedboy.com
10/20 - foreveryoungadult.com
10/21 – hookedtobooks.com
10/24 – chasingray.com

Hope you check them out in the next few days!

Cover Lust (32)

2011-10-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

(Dial / May 1, 2012)

I think this one deserves an AT LONG FREAKING LAST. But the wait will be sooooo worth it. Kristin Cashore is one of those rare authors who get better and better with each book, and I don't care how long she needs to write each of her books, I will wait patiently. I'm so happy that Bitterblue got such a gorgeous cover too. The style matches the covers for Graceling and Fire, but the keys just... wow! They really pop. Reading this article on Cashore in last week's edition of Publisher's Weekly's Children's Bookshelf email made me all the more excited for May 2012.

Destined by Jessie Harrell

(Mae Day Publishing / Nov. 17, 2011)

I feel kind of silly for liking this cover, but I do think it's gorgeous and works well for its intended YA audience. The sharpness of the lines and texture complements the model's stare, but then the softness of the colors and lighting elevate the image into a dreamlike state. The textured silhouettes on the edges, and the complex font treatment, is still delicate enough in my opinion, and not overboard: they complement the image well. Very pretty!

Insignia by S. J. Kincaid

(Katherine Tegen Books / July 10, 2012)

This book has the same publisher as Divergent, and sources point to the publisher's hope that this book will pull in some of Divergent's audience and do just as well. And from the looks of the synopsis and that cover, I don't see why it couldn't do just that. I LOVE the sci-fi feel of this cover: YA sci-fi is a whole new as yet unexplored world, and I'm excited to see what the future will bring in terms of YA sci-fi. This one is fancy enough to catch the attention of tech-minded male and female readers, while still having an overall theme that unites all the different elements.

The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long

(Penguin / Aug. 16, 2012)

More indulgence of the pretty! That bride-worthy dress trailing off into strands of beautiful flowers... There is a softness in the costuming, and the flowers, and the lighting, but the woods in the background suggest that something darker may abound, and I want to know what it is.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

(Harvill Secker / Sept. 15, 2011)

I posted about another version of this cover in my previous Cover Lust post, but then I saw this one and was swept away again. Is this the UK version? Aussie? I like how it keeps the style of the US version, in terms of silhouettes and color scheme, but the silhouettes in this one are so gorgeously intricate. Wow. Sigh.

The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley

(Bloomsbury / April 4, 2011)

I'm often not a fan of UK covers for YA contemporary novels, with their wishy-washy pastel-colored swirly lines, but when it comes to the fantastical, I think that this style of strong lines and dashes of color works so, so well. I think this is the UK version of The Folk Keeper...? Whatever country's version it is, it is so much better than the original US cover. Now that was a cover that would have succeeded in keeping both past me and current me away if I didn't now think that Franny Billingsley is an amazing writer.

Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman

(Penguin / April 12, 2012)

The fact of the matter is that THEY ARE RE-RELEASING SINGING THE DOGSTAR BLUES, WOOHOOOOO. Probably on the heels of the success of Eon and Eona. I'm so glad. This was such a charming sci-fi read (see my review here), in a YA publishing world where quality sci-fi is still scarce. I appreciate this new cover as well. Yes, a harmonica appears in the book. Yes, you should definitely look out for this book. Hopefully this new cover will remind, and thus attract, fans of Tamora Pierce, Megan Whalen Turner... and maybe even Stephenie Meyer?

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So, which of the above covers do you like the most? Which book are you looking forward to reading the most?

Review: Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

2011-10-13T09:40:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, contemporary, music, anxiety, mother-daughter relationships

Summary

17-year-old Carmen Bianchi is a world-class violinist, with several CDs, Grammys, and international tours under her belt. But the biggest challenge is yet to come, in the form of the Guarneri Competition, the world’s most prestigious young violinists’ competition. Carmen wishes she could be confident of a win, but her biggest competition is Jeremy King: British, handsome, arrogant, astoundingly talented…and more attractive than she ever thought possible.

Carmen’s attraction to Jeremy is just one of her many pre-Guarneri problems. Her mother, Diana, is becoming insufferably interfering, and Carmen is also taking pills to alleviate her massive pre-performance anxiety. With so much pressure stacked up against her, can Carmen pull through, or will she end up crashing and burning?

Review

I delight—and simultaneously despair—when a book is more than what its synopsis implies. I delight because is better than I expected. I despair because I wouldn’t have picked it up on account of its synopsis had someone not convinced me to read it, and I despair that others might miss out on it for the same reason I almost did.

VIRTUOSITY’s synopsis suggests that Carmen’s main conflict will be against her performance anxiety and Jeremy, but the fact is that there is so much more going on in this book. In fact, my favorite part of this read was not even mentioned in the synopsis: Carmen’s struggle with her overbearing mother. Parents are often cast in the adversarial role in adolescent fiction and reality, but the fact of the matter is that it is extremely difficult to write a believably antagonistic parent. That’s where Jessica Martinez succeeds. Carmen’s mother, Diana, is a failed musician, and channels all of her hopes and demands onto Carmen. Their relationship is wonderfully fraught with good intentions and poor actions. I found myself wanting to reach into the book and strangle Diana a little—and that’s how I know when a character is well-written.

The romance between Carmen and Jeremy is still a bit of a stretch and a YA cliché, but Martinez lets Carmen’s history of crippling performance anxiety unfold in such a way as to wring your heart. VIRTUOSITY is, simply put, a warm contemporary read that should satisfy even the most jaded of readers.

Similar Authors
Maria Padian (Jersey Tomatoes are the Best)
Nina de Gramont (Every Little Thing in the World)
Tara Kelly (Harmonic Feedback)

Cover discussion: I'm not a big fan. The retro coloring is, I think, overdramatic. In fact, until the publisher pitched it to me, I had no interest in reading this book because of its cover. Which would've been a shame.

Simon Pulse / Oct. 18, 2011 / Hardcover / 304pp. / $16.99

Received for review from publisher.

Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

2011-10-10T10:00:00.000-04:00

Fire and Thorns, Book 1

Tags: YA, fantasy, magic, war, destiny

Summary

With the mysterious but mystical Godstone in her belly, Princess Lucero-Elisa has grown up knowing she has a special role to play, but she feels as far from a proper Godstone bearer as possible. Elisa is not beautiful or politically apt like her sister, and when she enters a political marriage with Alejandro, ruler of the neighboring kingdom, she’s immediately in over her head at the political games and shocking revelations surrounding her heritage and destiny. And yet, as Elisa learns more about her new people, she begins to invest in their—and her own—well-being with a strength that she never knew she had in her.

Review

After a rocky start, Rae Carson’s debut novel, THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS, quickly grew into a YA fantasy tour de force, with an admirable complexity and characterization that makes it worthy of consideration from every high fantasy fan.

Admittedly, approximately the first third of THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS was difficult for me to get into. I found it hard to connect with Elisa and her predicament of being the plain and passive princess who is supposed to have a big role.

The more I read, however, the more I respected—and then eventually loved—Elisa, her world, and the story. Elisa turned out to be a supremely capable protagonist of the highest caliber, who seemed to blossom with every page I eagerly absorbed. Her lifetime of dullness and dissatisfaction is what gives her clarity in her new role as a princess and Godstone-bearer that everyone looks to for inspiration and guidance. This is one heroine whose future, beyond the confines of this particular story, is quite clear: she will make a remarkable queen, mother, and wife, even if, happily, the first book in this trilogy leaves her future appealingly wide open.

At first I wasn’t quite convinced that Carson’s fantastical world was on par with those of fantasy masters such as Tamora Pierce and Robin McKinley, but as THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS unfolded, I was happily proven wrong. Elisa’s world is every bit as complex, logical, and entwined in tradition and lore as a fantasy world should be. As Elisa extends her horizons and understandings, so does the scope of the story and the fictional world.

THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS is one of those rare few YA speculative fiction books published nowadays that proves that writing and world-building can still be complex and intriguing without being completely “overwhelmed” by an underwhelming romantic plotline. I wasn’t sure at the beginning, but Rae Carson fully won me over, and I now eagerly await the next installment in Elisa’s adventures!

Similar Authors
Zoe Marriott
Kristin Cashore
Alexandra Bracken

Cover discussion: I wasn't a fan of the original cover, and I don't really feel that this is much better. There's something... contrived about both this cover and the old one: it doesn't have the effortlessness of fantasy covers I've liked in the past.

Greenwillow Books / Sept. 20, 2011 / Hardcover / 432pp. / $17.99

Requested for review through NetGalley.

Review: A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

2011-10-07T10:10:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, fairy tale, retelling, Rumpelstiltskin, weaving

Summary

When her father dies, it is up to Charlotte Miller to carry the dying Miller tradition of running the Stirwaters Mill, which many believe is cursed. Things repaired one day fall apart again the next, and mysterious accidents befall workers. Practically minded Charlotte refuses to court such superstitious notions, but with the arrival of a pushy uncle and the incidents that thwart her attempts to ward off those who pressure her for money owed, she is forced to become involved in things beyond her understanding. As Charlotte delves deeper in order to unravel the mystery of the curse on Stirwaters, little does she realize how much is at stake.

Review

I always look forward to fairy tale retellings, and with this one winning the Morris Award for Best Debut YA, I eagerly picked up A CURSE DARK AS GOLD after two years of having this in my TBR pile. Unfortunately, it was pretty much an all-around disappointment, and in rather unexpected ways: for some reason, the way the story was written, and the way it unfolded, really frustrated and repelled me.

A CURSE DARK AS GOLD theoretically had all the elements I like in a story: a unique spin on a fairy tale, a strong female protagonist, and a compelling plot with only the subtly appreciated undertones of romance. However, I wasn’t far into the book before the way the story was playing out began to irk me. Charlotte’s vehement insistence that there was no such thing as a curse soon characterized her as blindly stubborn to me: I like my fair share of headstrong and independent females, but not when they are stubborn in a maddeningly close-minded way. Hints about the malignance of the curse were dropped in the book from here to kingdom come, but it was not until the last fifth of the book that things began to be explained, and I can’t help but think that all stories that are carried forward by the “mysterious and pervasive influence” of a “shocking secret” are kind of gimmicky. The absolute lack of forward progression in the plot regarding the understanding of Stirwaters, the Miller history, and the curse made me so frustrated that I was tempted to put the book down forever and not bother to find out how it ended.

As Charlotte insisted on pulling away from her loved ones in a misguided effort to protect everyone and shoulder the burden herself, I just couldn’t bring myself to empathize with her decisions. There’s a difference between being admirably independent and dumbly mule-headed, and I’m afraid that Charlotte fell on the wrong side of that line.

All in all, A CURSE DARK AS GOLD was actually too light on the Rumpelstiltskin retellings, rendering itself more just a supposedly spooky and tense story of desperation and redemption that turned out not to be my thing, mainly because of my dislike of the main character for her mule-headedness and the way the plot unfolded. These criticisms I have, of course, are far more subjective than my usual ones, and so if you think that these two points won’t bother you as much as they did me, then I encourage you to give this award-winning book a try. Many important people obviously thought it was a great work, so there is the likelihood that I am in the minority on this one.

Similar Authors
Erin Bow
Patrick Ness

Cover discussion: Simple, but the careful attention to focus--the image is sharpest on the threads in her hands--makes this cover an arresting one for me.

Scholastic / May 1, 2010 (reprint) / Paperback / 400pp. / $9.99

Personal copy.

Supernaturally Blog Tour: Poltergeist Dossier!

2011-10-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

Today I'm part of the supercool blog tour put together by Big Honcho Media for Supernaturally, the second book in Kiersten White's fun and bestselling paranormal series! This blog tour is different and cool because each stop features an IPCA Dossier and artist rendering of a different Paranormal creature from Kiersten/Evie herself!

IPCA Employee Handbook Section 3.1.34 Subsection B of Spirits

Poltergeists

Level Five
Known Entity (Human Corruption), Human Origin, Unknown Genesis, Predatory
Immortality: None
Breeding: Incorporeal; no risk

Appearance: Varies, depending on the poltergeist and its manifestations. Most often gruesome, intended to upset viewers.
Myths: Too many to list. Most true, mainly because poltergeist hauntings change from situation to situation.
Facts: Poltergeists are the lingering spirits of humans (occasionally human corruptions, such as werewolves or vampires) that seek vengeance. Through manipulation of visual, auditory, and sensory elements they create frightening situations. The method for getting rid of poltergeists depends on who the poltergeist was before dying. Because it takes enormous amounts of energy to stay on in poltergeist forms, the most effective way to get rid of a poltergeist infestation is to remove the motivation, whether through religious means that the poltergeist is familiar with, or by addressing the reasons the poltergeist has not moved on.
Dangers: Though poltergeists cannot physically harm people, the fear induced by the various hallucinations can cause heart palpitations, nightmares, stress, and digestion problems. A team effort is always recommended to divide the poltergeist’s attention.

Information contributed by Evelyn age 15 (please see Appendices Catalog, Section 7, for details on glamour-piercing abilities), transcribed from the original audio:
I watched Poltergeist when I was nine. Don’t tell Raquel; Lish let me watch it with her. So when I went on my first poltergeist mission I was terrified, waiting for trees to reach in the window and rip me out or whatever. Imagine my disappointment when it turns out that all poltergeists are is glamour. Everyone else was freaking out about the enormous monster centipedes crawling out of the floor, but I could see right through them. Really it was just some seriously grouchy old dude floating up in the corner laughing his head off. When I wasn’t scared he got annoyed, so I told him what I thought of his theatrics, and he got so mad that he lost his hold on this world and disappeared. Yet another paranormal occurrence that was nothing but a disappointment.

Artist rendering of Evelyn’s description:

About the book:

Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.

So much for normal.

About the author:

Kiersten White is the NYT Bestselling author of Paranormalcy. She has one tall husband and two small children and lives near the ocean, where her life is perfectly normal. This abundance of normal led her to a fascination with all things paranormal, including but not limited to vampires, faeries, and pop culture. Visit her at http://kierstenwhite.com.

Kiersten is now on tour with a slew of other cool authors for the Dark Days of Supernatural tour around the US. Check out their tour schedule to see if they're coming near you later this month!

Waiting on Wednesday (117)

2011-10-05T13:56:00.000-04:00

Insignia by S. J. Kincaid

IT'S WORLD WAR III.
THE ENEMY IS WINNING.
WHAT IF THE GOVERNMENT'S SECRET WEAPON IS YOU?

More than anything, Tom Raines wants to be important, though his shadowy life is anything but that. For years, Tom’s drifted from casino to casino with his unlucky gambler of a dad, gaming for their survival. Keeping a roof over their heads depends on a careful combination of skill, luck, con artistry, and staying invisible.

Then one day, Tom stops being invisible. Someone’s been watching his virtual-reality prowess, and he’s offered the incredible—a place at the Pentagonal Spire, an elite military academy. There, Tom’s instincts for combat will be put to the test, and if he passes, he’ll become a member of the Intrasolar Forces, helping to lead his country to victory in World War Three. Finally, he’ll be someone important: a superhuman war machine with the tech skills that every virtual-reality warrior dreams of. Life at the Spire holds everything that Tom’s always wanted—friends, the possibility of a girlfriend, and a life where his every action matters—but what will it cost him?

Gripping and provocative, S. J. Kincaid’s futuristic thrill ride of a debut crackles with memorable characters, tremendous wit, and a vision of the future that asks startling, timely questions about the melding of humanity and technology. [summary from Goodreads]

I just found this, and it was too good not to post. Basically it sounds like a badass combination of Divergent, Ender's Game, and The Hunger Games, okay?? Besides, YA is well overdue for fascinating sci-fi, and this one sounds totally promisinwg. Plus that cover rocks.

Insignia will be published in hardcover by Katherine Tegen Books in July 2012.

Battling Publisher Prejudice

2011-10-04T14:22:00.000-04:00

I'm going to admit something that probably will make some people angry: I am kind of biased when it comes to deciding which books to review or read, based on their publisher. I give much more consideration to books published by the three or four biggest publishing companies, and rarely, if ever anymore, accept for review books published by smaller publishing houses or via self-publication.

I'm conflicted about this decision process of mine. On the one hand, there has to be some way for me to sort through the plethora of books that are published each year: I can't possibly read all the thousands of books published annually, and so I have to narrow my pool somehow, and the ways in which I do this may not be the fairest, or the best way. But it is a way--it is my way. And after my first year of blogging, experience taught me that the books I enjoyed the most were the ones that were published by the major publishing houses.

In a way, I think that my "sorting system" makes sense, because the major publishing houses are the ones that have the money to snap up those rare but precious high-quality books that I love: the people who work at those houses are the ones who can recognize quality (and, okay, yes, financial success as well, but since my opinion on most YA bestsellers doesn't match that of the majority, I'll just be talking about my own reading preferences here), and who are in a position where they have the luxury of being able to choose the best of the best, the cream of the crop. Naturally, whether we readers, authors, and publishers wish to admit it or not, not everyone has equal amounts of talent, and not every book is equal in quality, which is extremely subjective anyway. So the major publishing houses get first pick of the potentially critically and/or commercially successful manuscripts (unfortunately those two elements are not mutually inclusive, sigh) and have the capacity to ensure that those chosen manuscripts receive the largest readership; smaller publishing houses get to choose from the remaining pool, and so on.

On the other hand, I do still feel bad that, in a way, I am judging books by elements other than simply the quality of the story and writing, by leaving it up to the (mostly) capable hands of professionals to do the "pre-selection" for me. For the most part, this decision of mine has worked well for me. Exceptions do occur: I have enjoyed books published by smaller houses in the past, and authors have opted out of the traditional publishing track for a successful attempt at self-publication and self-promotion. However, the writer in me doesn't feel too great about the fact that I cannot give each and every author's each and every book an equal chance to be read by me, because of the basic fact that I do not have infinite amounts of time, energy, or patience; I barely even have enough energy left over after work to keep up my blog.

Nowadays, more small and independent publishing houses are coming out with their own YA imprints, but I have yet to be motivated to pick up any of their books. (I admit that one small publishing house nearly gets me with their absolutely breathtaking covers every time, but I have resisted, which turned out to be a good decision when I had a spare moment in a bookstore one day, picked up one of the house's books, and read the first chapter.) I have just found most of my experiences with independently published books to be a disappointment: those publishing houses, I think, either cater to a very specific audience, or they seek to ride the wave of YA's everchanging genre successes. Neither of which appeal to me very much. I admit that I am the worst publicist because I cannot find it in me to promote something that I don't strongly believe in--but, of course, when I do find that special and uncommon book, I will talk about it to all those whom I feel share my reading tastes, and who I want to share a good book with.

I've rambled on for long enough about a potentially divisive topic in a manner that I can't even tell is comprehendible or not. I'd love to hear what you think. Do you find yourself "biased" towards a particular publishing house, or group of publishing houses? How do you sort through all the review requests that you get, or the books available for you to read? How do you feel about smaller publishing houses, or self-publishing? If you're an author and have experience either with the major or smaller publishing houses, what insights would you like to share?

Review: My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies by Allen Zadoff

2011-09-26T10:00:00.001-04:00

Tags: YA, middle grade, contemporary, theatre, grief, friendship, romance

Summary

High school sophomore Adam Ziegler is content with his behind-the-scenes role as a lighting man for his high school’s theatre company. Ever since his dad died in a car crash two years ago, Adam has stayed out of the spotlight, but this begins to be really difficult as he falls for the new actress, Summer, and gets on the bad side of Derek, the student director. Everyone knows that actors and techies don’t mix…but has Adam finally found the motivation he needs to make his stand?

Review

Allen Zadoff remains a contemporary charmer with his second novel for young adults, MY LIFE, THE THEATER, AND OTHER TRAGEDIES.

As he did in Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have, Zadoff breathes life into subjectively overdone themes like high school isolation and grief with his winningly empathic characters and humorous dialogue. Adam is endearingly geeky and shy. Sometimes his inability to stick up for himself made me want to give him a good hard (well-intentioned) slap, but then watching him grow throughout the book was extremely rewarding. Supporting characters, from Derek the Evil Student Dictator to Reach, Adam’s best friend, are entertaining. And the girls are no Manic Pixie Dream Girls, which can happen sometimes in books with geeky males as main characters: these girls are legit, and they’re nice, but they’re also pretty. Furthermore, MY LIFE, THE THEATER, AND OTHER TRAGEDIES has a dead father, but the grieving process happily does not dominate the plot.

MY LIFE, THE THEATER, AND OTHER TRAGEDIES will appeal to both the seasoned and amateur reader. For a quick and funny yet heartfelt look into the awkward teenage boy’s life, you can’t go wrong with Allen Zadoff.

Cover discussion: Disappointingly ordinary and uninspiring.

EgmontUSA / May 10, 2011 / Hardcover / 288pp. / $16.99

Sent by publisher for review.

Review: The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

2011-09-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

Shades of London, Book 1

Tags: YA, paranormal, ghosts, murder, mystery, boarding school, London

Summary

Rory thought that the most difficult part of transferring to a fancy boarding school in London would be adjusting to the British culture and making friends. But it turns out that that autumn, her school’s neighborhood is the setting for a series of murders that almost exactly follow the Jack the Ripper murders from over a century ago. The murders gain international notoriety. Why hasn’t the murderer been caught on London’s extensive CCTV security camera system?

It turns out that Rory sees a murderer suspect whom no one else seems to be able to see. And then Rory gets recruited by a secret police group who explain to her the truth about the existence of ghosts…and the handful of people who can see and talk to them. Rory’s skills might help them catch the killer…but it’s a dangerous game they play with a murderer who can’t be killed—again.

Review

I thought that I was done with stories about boarding schools, ghosts, and/or secret societies. But it turns out that all I needed was the expert hands of a talented author. THE NAME OF THE STAR introduces a freakishly delicious creepfest of a new series that had me gasping, shuddering, and turning pages almost faster than I could read them.

At first glance it seems like THE NAME OF THE STAR has the odds stacked against it. Rory’s a decent protagonist, though she doesn’t quite stand out; the plot doesn’t drag, but it does move languidly; and secondary characters can feel a little, well, secondary. But it’s a testament to Maureen Johnson’s skill that she can take all of these average-sounding elements and spin them together into a tight and suspenseful story.

I’ll be the first person to admit that I’m not much of a horror fan. But THE NAME OF THE STAR is just so creepy in its deliberate slowness that I found myself simultaneously wanting to squeeze my eyes shut and devour the book in one sitting. The person behind the murders is a true villain, very, very scary. I was biting my nails through the last two-thirds of this novel, and couldn’t even relax when Rory and her friends discovered the killer’s identity, that’s how dangerous this killer is.

If you’re a fan of horror, this is a must-read. If you enjoy Maureen Johnson’s novels, this is a must-read. Don’t miss out on this creepiest of creepy reads this fall.

Similar Authors
Lee Nichols (Deception)
Rosemary Clement-Moore
Carolyn McCullough (Once a Witch)

Cover discussion: Initially, I thought that this cover was simply mediocre, a tad too Photoshopped for my taste. After having read the book, however, this just creeps me out in a very good way. *grins*

Putnam Juvenile / Sept. 29, 2011 / Hardcover / 384pp. / $16.99

Won on LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Program, sent by publisher.

Waiting on Wednesday (116)

2011-09-21T10:36:00.000-04:00

Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Territories, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life.... [summary from Goodreads]

Maria Snyder is an incredible storyteller, and I LOVE the premise of Touch of Power! This is the kind of stuff that runs through my head all too often, haha. A new book by Maria is always welcome. I also know that you can check out the first chapter of Touch of Power floating somewhere around teh internetz, but, uh, I have zero brainpower right now and can't recall where.

Touch of Power will be published by MIRA on December 20, 2011.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies 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, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so. [summary from Goodreads]

What YA dystopian fan isn't dying for this book? I thought that Veronica's first book, and the first book in this series, Divergent, was one of the strongest dystopian books published this year, and I can't wait to get lost in Tris' absorbing narration again.

Insurgent will be published in hardcover by HarperCollins on May 28, 2012.

Review: Into the Parallel by Robin Brande

2011-09-20T09:50:00.000-04:00

The Parallel Series, Book 1

Tags: YA, sci-fi, astrophysics, string theory

Summary

Budding astrophysicist Audie Masters makes the greatest discovery of her time when she figures out how to jump into a parallel universe…and meets her other half! In this other universe, Hallie Markham is a famous world traveler, and Audie has a serious inferiority complex as she unravels the extent of her physics discovery…

Review

Robin Brande takes readers into a new dimension—literally—with her YA sci-fi, INTO THE PARALLEL. While various elements of the story, such as plot and characters, don’t feel as tight as her YA contemporary novels, INTO THE PARALLEL is nevertheless an enjoyable story that draws only lightly on advanced scientific concepts.

The majority of INTO THE PARALLEL unfolds through dialogue: Audie talking to Hallie and trying to figure out what’s going on, Audie talking to the professor, Audie lying to her mom…really, the amount of information that’s revealed through stationary dialogue is rather disconcerting, as you realize that there’s not much going on in terms of plot. Due to the talky nature of the story, little seems to be at stake: about halfway through the story, I found myself wondering, okay, so are we ever going to get to the gritty conflict? Alas, I felt like no such thing ever appeared—INTO THE PARALLEL was really just an exploration of a new situation, with little else driving the story.

The characters all seem to suffer from various symptoms of character flatness. Audie is a pretty straightforward protagonist, but sometimes she bugged me because her thoughts and behavior were at odds with her supposed intelligence. Honestly? This is one girl who will not be getting into Columbia, her dream school—and if she does, I will be tempted to chalk it up to fictional wish fulfillment (sigh). Hallie’s unwillingness to draw attention to herself and her accomplishments is at least consistent and admirable, if a little boring. As for Audie’s love interests, well, not much distinguishes them either. I feel like the character development relied too much on dialogue, at the expense of actually allowing readers’ connections to the characters, and the characters’ connections to one another, to unfold more naturally.

INTO THE PARALLEL tackles the fascinating possibilities that quantum mechanics and string theory offer, but it does so in a way that is rather elementary: in fact, the story could’ve done without the astrophysics element and still worked. Therefore, I’d say that it is a less sci-fi and more just a series of events that unfolds in parallel universes. Nevertheless, I give Robin Brande credit for all her research into this fascinating topic, and for writing a killer of a cliffhanger ending that, fortunately, can be immediately remedied, as the sequel is now out online. Will I be reading it? Hmm. Perhaps. INTO THE PARALLEL was lacking in a number of elements that are important to me in an enjoyable and well-written story, but everyone has those few authors they make exceptions for, and Robin’s one of them for me.

Similar Authors
Myra McEntire

Cover discussion: Well, uh, thankfully I don't have to look at it too often because I have an e-copy?

Ryer Publishing / July 9, 2011 / Paperback / 392pp. / $15.99

Received for e-review from the author.

Cover Lust (31)

2011-09-19T09:45:00.000-04:00

Breadcrumbs by Anna Ursu

(Walden Pond Press / Sept. 27, 2011)

Not only is this cover one that I would LOVE to own in poster-size, framed up on my wall, but I've also heard lovely things about this middle-grade fairy tale retelling. (Also, does the cover's illustrated style remind anyone else of Kate Messner's covers? Anyone know if it's the same illustrator??)

Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones

(HarperCollins / April 6, 2010)

HarperCollins seems to be on a roll with its covers that have caught my eye recently. The bright colors of this cover, plus the more subtle details upon closer inspection, make this something I would've picked up off the shelf randomly in elementary and middle school. DWJ's name on the cover doesn't hurt, either.

The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison

(EgmontUSA / Feb. 14, 2012)

Anyone else reminded of the iconic creepiness of The Silence of the Lambs? Sometimes the most straightforward cover presentation can be the most jaw-dropping. I like the font type and the blood spatter (at least I'm assuming it's blood spatter, but I may be influenced by my Silence of the Lambs reference), but my favorite part is probably how the butterfly image seems to "chop up" the reddish lines that form a margin around the edge of the cover. One of my favorite things to do when creating banners on PhotoShop (heehee).

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

(Doubleday / Sept. 13, 2011)

Arguably the most unique cover of this batch. I love how this kind of has a touch of the surreal, of the fashion-forward artistic. I think I could stare at it for the better part of a night.

Wide Open by Deborah Coates

(Tor / March 13, 2012)

LOOK AT THE COLORS OF THAT SKY. I WANT THE COLORS.

Review: Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson

2011-09-17T10:30:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, paranormal, sci-fi, synesthesia, mental hospitals

Summary

Alison Jeffries is a synesthete—a person whose senses are “crossed” so that she experiences multiple sensory experiences whereas most people just experience one—but she doesn’t know this. All she knows is that she’s been this way her whole life, and has to hide her ability, and that this condition may or may not have killed her classmate, Tori Beaugrand. Locked in a mental institute, Alison struggles to understand who she is and what she’s done, but it’s not until the arrival of a sympathetic researcher that she finally begins to understand…and, in doing so, has her world turned upside-down.

Review

R. J. Anderson steps away from faeries and tackles an entirely new genre and writing style in her latest novel, ULTRAVIOLET. ULTRAVIOLET is weird and crazy, but surprisingly, this genre-defying novel is an enjoyable success.

The less you know about ULTRAVIOLET before you read it, the better your reading experience will most likely be. ULTRAVIOLET’s plot doesn’t quite twist and turn, per se, but reader engagement is primarily predicated on unexpected revelations. This means that the characters feel somewhat lacking. Alison doesn’t stand out as a protagonist, though she is, fortunately, not a damsel-in-distress. Supporting characters take on rather one-dimensional roles: you’ve got yourself a plethora of fairly stereotypical mental patients, and the lifelong tension between Alison and her mother feels undeveloped.

Fortunately, the odd appeal of the story makes up for lackluster characters. While the writing is elementary, the story inexplicably sucks you in: you’re right there alongside Alison, having your mind blown and trying desperately to figure out where in this new version of the world you fit. Just when you thought the story couldn’t get any stranger, R. J. Anderson throws you another curveball. It’s pretty incredible, actually, how far she manages to stretch the story while still making everything fit together logically!

Overall, ULTRAVIOLET is not a masterpiece, but it was an entertainingly crazy read. Definitely recommended to readers who look more for originality in their reads.

Similar Authors
Myra McEntire
Robin Brande

Cover discussion: I am, apparently, shallow and love all photographic covers that are extremely detailed and play intriguingly with light and shadow. Tee.

Carolrhoda Books / Sept. 1, 2011 / Hardcover / 306pp. / $17.95

Received for review from NetGalley.

Readers (Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2011)

2011-09-16T08:58:00.000-04:00

Book bloggers blog because we love reading. Has book blogging changed the way you read? Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging? How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits? Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging? Choose any one of these topics and share your thoughts today!

I know that this was yesterday's topic, but I wasn't by a computer yesterday, and I think I'll have more to say about yesterday's topic than today's topic, which is about tips and techniques of blogging. (Hah! My appalling lack of perspective ability prevents me from ever writing coherent "how to" guides.) The reading-related topic I want to discuss is:

Can blogging improve critical reading and thinking skills?

Reading is great. Read whatever--literary classics, magazines, graphic novels, manga--just read. Studies have preliminary findings that show that reading while young is correlated to eventual career success. Reading broadens minds and stretches our ability to think innovatively... but I'm going to go one step further and say that blogging about books actually further increases our critical reading skills.

Back in high school, before I started blogging, I considered myself a fairly well-read person, and my grades and writing skills seemed to reflect that. I had been writing reviews before I started blogging as well. But not long after I started blogging, I could already see the definite improvement in my ability to write about books and book-related topics. My reviews went from summary-heavy to now covering a broader range of concerns that I, as a reader and aspiring writer, care about. As I kept on blogging, I found that I had more and more to say about book-related topics that I never even knew I had thoughts about, from accurate representation of diversity on book covers to financially successful but overdone YA characteristics.

Blogging increased my reading quantity only slightly, but it was, in fact, this constant and prolonged "critical distance" from books I had once devoured purely for escapist entertainment that improved my critical reading skills. I can now articulate why I liked or didn't like a book. I can better talk about books with others, and am thus more convincing as I try to persuade acquaintances to pick up certain books that I loved.

I'm thinking about this mostly because I have vague but determined plans to start a book club for my students at my job after the college application season, and the more that I think about it, the more I truly believe that blogging--having a public outlet for talking about books--can be extremely important to the development of one's critical reading skills. At my job, I work with some of China's smartest students: they effortlessly score 800s on the Math section of the SAT but struggle heavily with Critical Reading, a fact that is unsurprising for international students. My hope is that if I can introduce a consistent blogging habit among my students that they will be able to practice their critical reading skills and therefore improve not only their SAT scores but also their academic successes. Of course, this doesn't just apply to Chinese students: I'd be curious to see if blogging and other similar forms of new and more informal written literacy can benefit all sorts of students who are considered weaker in their reading and writing abilities.

Hmm... dissertation ideas, dissertation ideas... :)

Blogger Interviews (Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2011)

2011-09-13T09:30:00.000-04:00

It's interview time for BBAW 2011! This year I had the honor of swapping interviews with Amanda from Maestra Amanda's Bookshelf, who is an elementary school ELL teacher. Our reading tastes don't overlap much, so it was fun to get to interview her. Welcome, Amanda, to Steph Su Reads!

1. Tell us about your blog. When did you start blogging, and why? Where did the name come from? What special features can readers find on your blog?

I started my book blog in January (I had a flowboarding blog that I really never updated---Maestra Amanda's Bookshelf, or That Book Lady, as it was called then, was the first blog I had that I really really tried keeping up with). Like I said, it was initially called "That Book Lady" because thats what a friend's 5-year-old called me, whenever my husband and I went to visit, we'd bring books. But, then about Valentine's Day, I realized that "Maestra Amanda's Bookshelf" was more "me". Maestra Amanda was what my first group of students called me when I taught pre-k, and I've just always liked it.

I started the blog with the thought that I would review books my students would and could read (they are grades 3-5 English Language Learners), but then it kind of became a YA blog (which is fine, I love YA, but my kiddos don't read that), and when I recently realized this, I decided to shift my focus back. Yes, I can read YA and feature some on my blog, but I should really be using my resources to find and read books that I can either use in the classroom or give to my students to enjoy. I don't know about any special features besides that I really am trying to review more books that I can see being used in an elementary school classroom. I do participate in several meme's---Shelf Candy from Five Alarm Book Reviews, Book Blogger Bingo from The Slowest Bookworm and In My Mailbox from The Story Siren (I'm working on one right now that I'd love to host...I just need to get up the courage to launch....plus add a few more posts on it to my archive so its not like "what is she doing?" )

2. What is your favorite thing about your job?

My kids, especially the first time I see them after a break. I got the biggest hug today! It must have lasted 5 minutes! The next best part is connecting a student with a book. We took a mini-tour of my classroom today, and the first thing the group noticed was my shelf of new books. They were fighting over who got to read which and "calling" books before I was even finished with my book talk!

3. What are 2 books that you'd recommend to your students and their parents for a joint read?

I just found a great series called "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You"---they have all sorts, scary stories, fairy tales, fables, Mother Goose Rhymes, etc. Its really cute in that you learn the story (for example, The Princess and the Pea) by taking turns reading a 2-page story. Each partner's part is color coded, is usually a doublet (2 lines) at a time and you just take turns reading the page. But really, any book that a parent could read with their child is great. This year, all of my students are Hispanic, and many of my parents can't read English. I don't care! Read with your child in Spanish! Reading is reading! Instill that love regardless of the language. It transcends.

4. You've been selected to participate in an outer-space colonization project and can only bring 3 "nostalgia" objects with you (people and animals don't count). Which 3 objects would you bring, and why?

1) Charlie MaSheen (my iPad)----cause I would load it full of books before I went...plus Angry Birds.
2) Photo albums, so I could remember all the people and places
3) Pepsi....all the pepsi I could stuff in my bag. Heck, I might even bring an EXTRA bag just for my pepsi! I love Pepsi.

5. What upcoming book releases are you looking forward to?

Any of Rick Riordan's books (Kane Chronicles, The Lost Hero series)---my kiddos (ok, me too) love him! Also, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson.

-

Thanks, Amanda! Be sure to check out her blog at Maestra Amanda's Bookshelf to learn more about Amanda, and to see the answers to the interview questions she asked me.

Community (Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2011)

2011-09-12T08:50:00.000-04:00

Monday September 12th: Community

While the awards are a fun part of BBAW, they can never accurately represent the depth and breadth of diversity in the book blogging community. Today you are encouraged to highlight a couple of bloggers that have made book blogging a unique experience for you. They can be your mentors, a blogger that encouraged you to try a different kind of book, opened your eyes to a new issue, made you laugh when you needed it, or left the first comment you ever got on your blog. Stay positive and give back to the people who make the community work for you!

This past year of blogging has been pretty rough for me, due to real-life upheavals. I entered my senior year of college, wrote a 140-page thesis, graduated college, and moved to the other side of the world to start my first full-time job. In the meantime, my blogging has fallen by the wayside. I don't read as much as I once did. I find it harder to write reviews now. Some days, I don't even have the energy to check my email or go on Twitter. And I admit that I haven't read blogs in months. Sometimes it seems like the only connection I have remaining to the YA world is through my hourly perusals of Goodreads (can't stay away, love that site) and the review books that my parents tell me still show up for me at their home back in the States.

I'll admit: many days I wonder if I should even continue blogging. I don't have as much energy as I once did, nor, unfortunately, the motivation. There are a lot of things going through my mind right now that I'm struggling to fit into my understanding of myself and my identity. Some days I wake up and feel like I've completely lost the part of me that knew how to read and talk about books and maybe even write. I don't feel much like myself right now, and I don't know if it's because my new experiences have yet to have worked their way into my identity, or if it's because I'm really changing, and letting some things in my past go.

Anyway, it needed to be said. It's why I haven't been around, and why participating this week will be really hard for me. I'm going to try, because BBAW is such a wonderful way of recognizing the strength of the book blogging community. But it's a community that I find harder and harder to be a part of, and at the moment I have no solution or inkling of how things will turn out.

This past year, the bloggers who have mattered the most to me are the ones with whom I've formed friendships outside of blogging, those who have become more than just a blog name or Twitter profile pic. Those who know me halfway well know that I don't make friends easily. I can do the acquaintance or stranger thing, but the friend thing is a whole different story. That being said, once I make a friend, I typically keep a friend. I feel fortunate that I count the following incredible people as friends, despite the distance, or the scarcity of contact, or whatever other things may separate us:

Totally taken from Jamie.

Jamie of The Perpetual Page-Turner: fellow blogger turned in-real-life blogging acquaintance turned precious and lovely friend, whom I was devastated to have to leave behind when I left the Philly area. Somehow, Jamie cuts through all of the nonsense and overthinking that usually surrounds me like a shroud and took me under her gorgeous wings as a friend. She might say that I am the senior blogger and the one whom she looks up to, but she is the one who has the blessed ability to turn online relationships into real-life ones. In short, she represents all that is important about blogging and community-building.

Capillya of That Cover Girl: another blogger with the knack of making lasting connections with bloggers. Not only is her blog unique, smart, and sassy, but Capillya is also a lovely person, always willing to say something that makes me smile.

Adele of Persnickety Snark: I guess I technically met up with Adele in person for the first time last summer, during the previous year's round of BBAW, but I have a feeling that that won't be the only time I see her. I have so much respect for this accomplished and intelligent woman, what with her seemingly single-handedly running the YA librarian/blogging bizness down in Australia. Adele, I'm closer to you now, so I'm planning to visit you soon!

And these ladies here:

Lenore, for being pretty much the first blogger to comment on my blog back when it was shiny and brand new over two and a half years ago. I will never forget. And Frankie, who is cool and talented and brings the sun with her wherever she goes. Other Philly book-loving people who have bonded over the past year because all the cool kids seem to be in NYC and we made our own parties in the Philly area.

And my friends on Goodreads, for making me feel like I'm still in the loop in terms of YA talk, and for accepting what little I can give in terms of comments, status updates, and reviews. Including but not limited to: Nomes, Nic, oliviasbooks, Gabrielle Carolina, John, Aleeza, ohgodmybrainisshuttingdownandIcan'tremember.

Author friend who has become a role model for me not just in terms of literary talent: Beth.

To people in my life who were friends first and then bookish connections second. I love having friends who also love to talk YA books with me. Never stop being you.

And... just, everyone else that I forgot and shouldn't have. Basically everyone and anyone who talks to me on Twitter and makes me still feel like a normal, fully functioning person. Thank you; I need to go back to my cave now.

Review: The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

2011-09-02T09:50:00.000-04:00

Tags: middle grade, dystopian, fantasy, magic, creativity

Summary

In the land of Quill, all thirteen-year-olds are sorted into one of three categories: Wanteds, Necessaries, and Unwanteds. Wanteds and Necessaries remain in Quill to keep the land running, and the Unwanteds are disposed to their deaths for their violations of creative expression.

Twins Aaron and Alex get separated when Aaron is chosen as a Wanted and Alex is Unwanted. But “Death” is not at all what Alex and the other Unwanteds expected. Instead, they are transported to the magical world of Artime, run by Mr. Today, who teaches the Unwanteds how to use their creativity in magical battle. For Artime is in danger of being exposed, and the Unwanteds will need all of their creativity and magic to overcome Quill’s armies.

Review

A book being touted as the next Harry Potter certainly has a lot to live up to, and while Lisa McMann’s first middle-grade fantasy THE UNWANTEDS doesn’t quite have the immortal boy with the lightning bolt scar’s charm and uniqueness, it nevertheless will be an enjoyable read for the younger reader.

Reading THE UNWANTEDS felt as if I were carrying out my childhood dreams. When you were little, did you ever daydream of living away from home in a magical mansion where every one of your whimsies was right at the tip of your thoughts? Yeah, that was probably the number one thing I thought about during my free time. In that sense, then, reading THE UNWANTEDS was almost a literal return to my childhood. The youthful delight of having near-complete control over your own life; of having magic at your command; of attending an eternal summer camp…that’s part of what you get, reading THE UNWANTEDS.

But not all of it. THE UNWANTEDS contains distinctly dark themes of creativity versus logic, imagination versus asceticism, that make it darker than your usual magical children’s tale. This is part dystopia, after all. More sophisticated readers might find the literal impending war between creativity and pragmatism in the book a little too literal in terms of the book’s themes, but younger readers will probably get a kick out of the minimalization of gray areas.

My biggest problem with THE UNWANTEDS, the one that made me unable to finish the book, was that I simply didn’t connect with or care for any of the characters. Alex and his Unwanted friends tended to blend indistinguishably into one another, and were being pretty snippy and immature pre-teens for the most part. That’s not the problem—after all, Harry Potter was pretty unbearable for many of his adventures; it was more the fact that I couldn’t bring myself to feel bad for the characters or to care about how they ended up.

It is unfortunate that the power of such a magical premise was diminished by bland and unsympathetic characters. This won’t deter all people from reading and enjoying THE UNWANTEDS, but as far as I’m concerned, my lack of connection to the characters draws me away from this adventure and towards more character-driven fantasies.

Similar Authors
J. K. Rowling
Margaret Peterson Haddix

Cover discussion: Quite cool. It's hand-drawn, but with a hint of computer animation. Will probably appeal to video game lovers.

Aladdin / Aug. 30, 2011 / Hardcover / 400pp. / $16.99

Review copy sent by publisher.

Why New Adult Lit is the Next Cool Thing

2011-09-01T09:50:00.001-04:00

Awesome bloggers Nic from Irresistible Reads and Linds from Bibliophile Brouhaha have teamed together to host Kirsty Eagar Week, in which a bunch of bloggers, of which I am one, are posting to promote this lovely Australian author. Check out Nic's introductory post here! I had the fortune of reading Raw Blue a while ago and it was stunning, so I'm honored to be a part of this week. My post is on older YA--or, as it has been referred to, New Adult Literature.

"Why New Adult Lit is the Next Cool Thing"

Recently I reread Anne of the Island, the third book in L. M. Montgomery's eternally lovely series. This is the book in which WONDERFULLY ROMANTIC THINGS happen because hey, guess what? Anne is old enough to go through those emotions. She finally realizes that she's actually in love with her best friend, Gilbert Blythe, and things that we were desperately waiting for three books to happen finally happen. Life is well in Anne's (and my) romantic dreams.

Anne of the Island spans Anne's college years, where she blossoms from a poised but still emotionally young 18-year-old to a 22-year-old woman with a much better understanding of her emotions. The entire Anne series is generally considered children's literature, but, age-wise, Anne in this installment fits neatly into the infant literary sub-genre some are calling "New Adult Literature."

It’s not quite an officially recognized genre just yet, always faltering in shelf placement between the YA or adult sections, but I think it’s only a matter of time before New Adult Lit takes off. Just like teens benefit emotionally, mentally, and intellectually from having their own literary genre, so can real-life young adults benefit from books that feature people their own age, who are going through what they are going through. I am a recent college graduate and distinctly feel that my reading tastes have shifted from primarily YA to…what? Thus far, there is no “other” where I feel like I belong. I want stories of growth and discovery in the college years. I want adventures of recent college graduates, stressing out over the instability of the job market or being overwhelmed by the newness of their first fulltime job. Much like how, 40 years ago, teens demanded literature that represented what life was really like for them, I want the same for my newly minted “young adult” status!

Pragmatically, new adult lit is a definite potential market. Many of the age groups we now take for granted, such as toddlers, were actually coined by companies to launch a new line of products for their new age groups as recently as 50 years ago. Why couldn’t, or shouldn’t, the same apply to book publishing? Ten years ago you would be hard-pressed to find a YA section in a bookstore. Now, a bookstore without a YA section feels almost out-of-date. As the generation of teenagers who coincided with this most recent explosion of YA literature graduate high school and enter college, what will there be for them to read? A separate bookstore section for New Adult Lit might be difficult to imagine now, but I predict that by 2020 there will be more than a handful of stores featuring a distinct shelf for a burgeoning genre nestled between YA and adult fiction.

Hopefully, within the next few years, authors will not be asked to lower the ages of their protagonists to better fit the established YA lit parameters. Publishers will take the leap and tap into the overdue potential of stories featuring college-age characters and the unique arena of freedom and fear that coexist during these years. Readers are already clamoring for stories set in college—and, as we know, the customer is always (okay: mostly, usually) right.

So why shouldn't there be a New Adult genre?

Be sure to check out the Kirsty Eagar Week schedule on Nic's blog to hear what other bloggers have to say about Kirsty, Kirsty's books, older YA lit, and more. There are also giveaways, so go go go! :)

(Oh, and also, pick up Kirsty's books if you have the opportunity. You won't be sorry.)

Waiting on Wednesday (115)

2011-08-31T09:35:00.000-04:00

Saving June by Hannah Harrington

If she’d waited less than two weeks, she’d be June who died in June. But I guess my sister didn’t consider that.

Harper Scott’s older sister has always been the perfect one so when June takes her own life a week before her high school graduation, sixteen-year-old Harper is devastated. Everyone’s sorry, but no one can explain why.

When her divorcing parents decide to split her sister’s ashes into his-and-her urns, Harper takes matters into her own hands. She’ll steal the ashes and drive cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going California.

Enter Jake Tolan. He’s a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession and nothing in common with Harper’s sister. But Jake had a connection with June, and when he insists on joining them, Harper’s just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanour and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what she needs.

Except June wasn’t the only one hiding something. Jake’s keeping a secret that has the power to turn Harper’s life upside down again. [summary from Goodreads]

This book escaped my notice for the longest time because, well, mostly of personal preferences. I'm a bit skeptical of books about taking road trips with bad boys with secrets. But the reviews on Goodreads for this book are overwhelmingly positive, and a lot of my Aussie friends who were fortunate enough to read it early are head over heels for it. A contemporary read that I can fall for? Count me in!

Saving June will be published in paperback from Harlequin on November 22, 2011.

Hooked Giveaway!

2011-08-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

How can you resist a book when it's touted as the literary Juno? I have for you today an opportunity for ONE winner to win a copy of Hooked by Catherine Greenman, which is about a pregnant teen, but I'm not going to copy the synopsis here because I think it's a bit spoilery, but you can read it here on Goodreads if you want. Anyway, to enter, fill out the form below. One winner, open to US mailing addresses only (publisher's rules), and ends Friday, September 16, 2011. Good luck!

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Review: All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

2011-08-26T10:15:00.001-04:00

Tags: YA, dystopian, organized crime, NYC

Summary

Anya Balanchine, daughter of one of New York’s most famous crime bosses, lives in a world where everything is rationed, coffee and chocolate are illegal, and crime families run a very well-organized black market. Since her father’s murder, Anya wants nothing to do with the “family business,” wanting only to take care of her mentally damaged older brother and younger sister.

But when Anya’s ex-boyfriend is poisoned by her family’s chocolate, Anya must unwillingly come to terms with her birthright—both the good and bad points.

Review

With a cover like that, a premise like that, and the name of one of YA’s most highly awarded authors attached to it, how could one not pick this book up? With her trademark intelligent writing and world-building, Gabrielle Zevin’s dystopian ALL THESE THINGS I’VE DONE should be a hit for those who like their YA dystopias a touch on the literary side. It doesn’t quite hit the mark in terms of characterization, but I still very much enjoyed this novel, and look forward to its sequels.

Anya’s New York is like the present day gone to seed and corruption. Famous landmarks have been transformed into slumming hangouts and holding areas, and prepubescent kids rob people off the street with stolen handguns. The setting is fraught with tensions of all sorts, and Zevin makes great use of it. We keenly feel Anya’s struggle to juggle taking care of her family, standing her ground against her corrupt extended family, developing platonic and romantic relationships, and staying on the right side of the law. It is a testimony to the world’s potential that I couldn’t put this book down, even when the plot trudged along like it had all the time in the world to tell its story.

I had the same problem with ALL THESE THINGS I’VE DONE that I had with Gabrielle Zevin’s other books: that is, I know that Zevin’s writing is wonderful and mature and intelligent, but for some reason, I don’t find myself connecting to the characters as much as feel like I should. For example, while Anya and Win’s relationship is pleasant, it didn’t, I dunno, sweep me off my feet or anything. Anya’s “enemies” are supposed to be sinister and scary, but I didn’t really find myself that indignant or protective on Anya’s behalf.

But I feel like that’s just a “me” thing, because most others I know really like Zevin’s writing. Either way, I enjoyed ALL THESE THINGS I’VE DONE. At times it can feel like a really long setup to the second book, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll be able to enjoy the stellar world-building along the way.

Similar Authors
Holly Black

Cover discussion: Easily one of my favorite covers of the year. It's attractive in a way that doesn't involve flashy dresses or brooding models, but instead with a rich complexity that's hidden from first sight by its appearance of starkness.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Sept. 6, 2011 / Hardcover / 368pp. / $16.99

Sent by publisher for review.

Waiting on Wednesday (114)

2011-08-24T09:40:00.000-04:00

The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani

After her father loses his job, Sonia Nadhamuni, half Indian and half Jewish American, finds herself yanked out of private school and thrown into the unfamiliar world of public education. For the first time, Sonia's mixed heritage makes her classmates ask questions—questions Sonia doesn't always know how to answer—as she navigates between a group of popular girls who want her to try out for the cheerleading squad and other students who aren't part of the "in" crowd.

At the same time that Sonia is trying to make new friends, she's dealing with what it means to have an out-of-work parent—it's hard for her family to adjust to their changed circumstances. And then, one day, Sonia's father goes missing. Now Sonia wonders if she ever really knew him. As she begins to look for answers, she must decide what really matters and who her true friends are—and whether her two halves, no matter how different, can make her a whole. [summary from Goodreads]

Why I want it: it's a POC main character! It's middle grade! Okay... I really only had those two reasons, but those are two really! awesome! reasons! Because--POC!!!!

The Whole Story of Half a Girl will be published in hardcover by Delacorte Books on January 10, 2012.

In the Philly Area? PAYA Festival This Weekend!

2011-08-23T10:00:00.001-04:00

To those of you still lucky enough to be in the Philly/Delaware/Jersey area, the second annual PAYA Festival is happening this weekend! PAYA, or Bring YA 2 PA, is a nonprofit initiative started by the incredible teen blogger Skyanne of Harmony Book Reviews to raise money for Pennsylvania public libraries. The PAYA Festival brings together YA authors, bloggers, aspiring writers, and just plain readers in a wonderfully cozy and exciting in a one-day event featuring author signings, writing workshops, book raffles, and more. Its coziness is the main reason why this was one of my favorite book events that I attended last year. I'm sad I can no longer attend, but that just means that more of you should go and support YA!

2011 PAYA Festival

Saturday, August 27, 2011

12:00pm - 3:00pm

1585 Paoli Pike, West Chester, PA 19380 (Google Maps here)

View Larger Map

A partial list of authors attending:
Josh Berk
Cyn Balog
Jeri Smith-Ready
A.S. King
Dianne Salerni
Shannon Delany
Shelena Shorts
Ellen Jensen Abbott
Alissa Grosso
Jennifer Murgia
Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman
Sarah Darer Littman
Amy Holder
Keri Mikulski
Chelsea Swiggett
April Linder
Leah Clifford

Yeahhh, that's why you don't want to miss this event, if you're in the area. Check out the event's Facebook events page for more details or to RSVP! I had a blast last year, and I promise you won't be disappointed. :)

Here are some pictures from the awesome time I had last year:

Skyanne setting up signs to the site.

Most of the authors who attended the 2010 PAYA Festival.

Some bloggers at the 2010 PAYA Festival: Chelsea (blogger turned author), me, Kristi (The Story Siren), Skyanne (Harmony Book Reviews), James (Book Chic Club)

Will you be a part of this great event too? :)

Review: Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

2011-08-22T10:10:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, contemporary, Italian Australians, ethnic biases, families

Summary

Josephine Alibrandi is 17, lives with her single mother, and must deal with her critical and past-obsessed grandmother. Little throws this opinionated and feisty girl off guard in her female-dominated world, but if anything can cause her to rethink all that she thought she understood about the world, the arrival in her life of a potential love interest, a deeply suffering friend, her long-absent father, and a shocking family secret just might.

Review

At long last, I’ve picked up and finished my favorite author’s debut novel, which also happens to be the last book of hers that I read. It’s fascinating—and quite odd, to tell you the truth—to read her first book last: it’s like peeking at a great author’s first draft. Nevertheless, LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI was an enjoyable, if not spectacular, contemporary read featuring a feisty main character and a discussion of ethnic discrimination in Australia.

The great maturation of Melina Marchetta’s writing style over the past 20 years shows. Much of the character development in LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI takes place in the form of dialogue: Josie’s grandmother, in particular, talks a lot about their family’s history, and Josie is often at odds with her grandmother as to where they stand regarding their position as Italian Australians in Australian society. Sometimes the character development feels choppy, for Josie will be acting like an immature brat one day, and in the next chapter, she will talk about how she feels herself changing as she learns more and more. Um, from where does this growth naturally progress? I scratch my head in confusion.

The best part of LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI is probably Josie. In a genre where all too often female protagonists will be much blander than their authors intended for them to be, Josie is loud-mouthed, mean at times, unafraid to make her thoughts heard. She is very direct with the family members she disagrees with over various issues. Because of Josie’s opinionated point of view, readers are able to be immersed in a discussion over ethnic biases that existed in Australia at the time of this book’s writing, that may still exist today. Josie is unafraid to voice her complaint about how she is treated and thought of differently by her classmates. Sometimes this feels like too much telling and not enough showing, but it’s Melina Marchetta. Which means that even not at her fullest potential, she is still worth reading.

LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI may not have claimed my heart as Saving Francesca and Jellicoe Road have, but it’s still, I think, a must-read for Marchetta fans, who will be able to appreciate just how far their beloved author has come.

Similar Authors
Cath Crowley
Sarah Dessen

Cover discussion: I'm... indifferent about this one, I think. Sure, I think the model could be Josie, especially given Josie's propensity to, uh, speak her mind at every opportunity. But I'm not quite sure what the oversaturation is supposed to accomplish.

Knopf / May 9, 2006 (reprint) / Paperback / 320pp. / $8.95

Personal copy.

Two-Box Giveaway!

2011-08-21T10:30:00.000-04:00

Two months ago, in the midst of packing for an across-the-world move and getting rid of half my book collection, I packed up two differently sized boxes, each containing a smattering of recently released finished copies, upcoming ARCs, and random books that I thought were good and would be nice to share with other bookish people. In all the excitement of, y'know, starting a full-time job and living in a new and exciting city all by myself, I, well, uh, didn't get around to posting about the boxes until now.

So yeah. There are two boxes. No, I do not remember what I put in them. (That's part of the fun, right?) I am giving them away. Enter if you're interested. (Please, please enter!)

To enter, fill out the form below, making sure to answer the question relevantly. This giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only (sorry, but my parents are going to be paying shipping, even though they don't know it yet), and ends Friday, September 16, 2011. Good luck!

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Cover Lust (30)

2011-08-20T11:00:00.000-04:00

Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur

(Wendy Lamb Books / Aug. 23, 2011)

Sometimes I don't have particularly sophisticated demands for a book cover. Sometimes all I want is to enjoy a cover with a nice, straightforward picture. So I kind of like how this one is just a straightforward picture, and yet suggests things in tune with the book's synopsis. Plus, the title design is quite interesting!

Bluefish by Pat Schmatz

(Candlewick Press / Sept. 13, 2011)

Now this one is simple, in a completely different way than Eight Keys' cover, and its simplicity makes it AWESOME. I love the abstract, postmodernist feel of the cover, taking the title at its most literal. The subtle changes in gradations of the blue is insanely smooth and stands out.

Ghost Flower by Michele Jaffe

(Razorbill / April 12, 2012)

I pretty much exclusively like the foreground pattern, and how it weaves among the title and author name. The girlface is pretty stereotypical... but does anyone else think that the foreground design lends perhaps an Eastern feel to this cover? And does anyone else think that they could do more cool things with foreground two-dimensional designs?! (I do!)

Delirium by Lauren Oliver (special edition)

(HarperCollins / Aug. 2, 2011)

Again, I fully admit to occasionally being shallow when it comes to covers. I was rather indifferent towards both the ARC and original hardcover versions of this cover. But this one, with the girl looking straight at you, is like, BAM! -- a factor that neither two previous versions had. There's something deliciously eerie about the blue-green of the plants and font used, too. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it chills me... and I like that just that color does that to me.

Bewitching by Jill Barnett

(Bell Bridge Books e-book / June 6, 2010)

In a completely opposite vein, this cover of Bewitching is so cool, hinting at the magic within the story. I'm a sucker for a well-done silhouette image, and I think this one includes just the right amount of different textures, while maintaining one general theme of silhouettes and yellow-green-blueness.

"How We Met": Initial Meetings Between Us and Our Favorite Books and Authors

2011-08-19T09:45:00.000-04:00

Just like every couple has a “how we met” story, I’m sure that nearly everyone has a story for how they first “met” an influential author or book. You can sometimes tell from a review how the reviewer and the book or author “met”, but some of my favorite “encounters” happened so long ago that my reviews for those books don’t encompass the sweet initial meeting. So, just for fun, here are the stories behind how I “met” some of my favorite authors and books!

Melina Marchetta

I sometimes suspect that I don’t have the best taste in book covers. Faces on covers are so overrated, but the model’s piercing green eyes—how I wished I had eyes like hers!—were what drew me to pick up an otherwise unassuming book on display on the public library’s YA shelf, called Saving Francesca. Talk about being the best find of the year. With unassuming YA contemporary prose, Francesca drew me into her ordinary yet extraordinary fictional world (Will Trombal!). This was back in the day where I’d check out the same book multiple times for delightful rereads, and I found myself doing this with Saving Francesca, before the paperback was released and bought my own copy.

Sarah Dessen

In eighth grade Reading & Writing class, we were assigned a book project where we had to make a brochure for a book we felt would make for a good whole-class read. As the example, my teacher held up the brochure she made for a book I had never heard of before: Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen. Initially I was turned off by the cover (an awkward mishmash of collage-like illustrations) and premise (dating abuse?! How can I relate if I’ve never even been kissed??) but, wanting something new to read, I decided to pick it up at the library and give it a try. The premise still unsettled me, and I was very glad when Sarah’s publisher decided to reissue the book with a new cover, but how fortuitous that, in using Dreamland as the example of the assignment she was giving us, my teacher led me to one of the greatest YA authors of our time.

Megan McCafferty

“Listen to this,” my eleventh-grade creative writing teacher announced in class, shaking the computer printout in her hand. “’Harvard student author accused of plagiarism.” It was the infamous event of 2005, in which She Who Will Not Be Named was found to have plagiarized passages from the books Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, by some author named Megan McCafferty. As my teacher read aloud the plagiarized passages alongside the original passages, I thought to myself, “Hah! The original passages are pretty damn funny. Who is this Megan McCafferty person and where can I get me more doses of snarky humor?” and it was off to the library after school for me. Perhaps Jessica Darling and I can say that we became acquainted through dubious connections, but when it’s a relationship this wonderful, who cares how it started, really?

-

Blog readers, lend me a moment of your time and energy and share with me your favorite “how we met” stories, if you will. Hmm, perhaps I may even turn this into a meme of sorts; who knows?

Review: Eona by Alison Goodman

2011-08-15T10:00:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, fantasy, love triangle, magic

Eon, Book 2
(Book 1: Eon review)

Summary

At the heels of an imperial takeover, Eona has been revealed as a female Dragoneye and flees with her rebel friends for her life. Determined to put Kygo, the rightful heir, back onto the throne, Eona and her friends must do all they can to understand her Dragoneye powers, which so far are nearly impossible for her to control. To help Eona gain control over her powers, the Rebels reluctantly rescue Lord Ido, the Rat Dragoneye who murdered the other Dragoneyes in a selfish quest for ultimate power, who is to help her learn.

However, Eona finds herself torn between her love for Kygo and her undeniable pull towards Ido. She struggles to be true to herself in a world where telling the truth can mean losing her free will. Eona’s eventual decision will not only alter the political landscape of the land, but also the Dragoneyes’ very connection to the mystical and powerful dragons themselves.

Review

I was dying for this sequel. Absolutely dying. Two years of distracting myself by reading other books, waiting for EONA to finally, finally be released. And even though I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did Eon, it is still a towering accomplishment in fantasy literature that should satisfy most fans of the first book.

Alison Goodman’s world-building is as astonishing as ever. Whereas Eon largely takes place within the walls of the castle grounds, EONA traverses various landscapes, cultures, and attitudes in a dizzying array of information to keep track of. And it doesn’t entirely succeed. The bulk of the story remains close to Eona, Kygo, Ido, and their various plans for overthrowing the traitor “Emperor” Sethon; supporting characters who come in and out of the story don’t feel grounded within the world, and thus I found it extremely difficult to keep track of the goings-on and their importance.

Perhaps I should’ve reread Eon before starting EONA, because I found that EONA went in an entirely different direction than I had expected. For instance, whereas Eon emphasizes personal growth and court tensions, the majority of EONA felt like it toyed with a disappointingly more conventional YA love triangle between Kygo, Eona, and Ido. Neither of these people are truly likable: turns out that all three are power-hungry and mistrustful in their own ways. I actually appreciate this complexity of character. Here are three very different people, all thrust into an inescapable game of political and magical push-and-pull; it would be next to impossible that they’d come out of their experiences untouched.

So I really enjoyed reading about their flaws, but it made the fact that the love triangle seemed to be such a large part of EONA a little unbearable. I wasn’t particularly a fan of either “leg” of the triangle, and it felt a little like giving in to YA conventions, in my opinion, detracting from the action-packed, conspiracy-oriented feel of Eon.

Nevertheless, EONA is an impressive conclusion to a marvelously complex world that was introduced in Eon, and therefore has to be read by anyone who read and enjoyed the first book. The focus of EONA shifts, but still ends on a note that will likely leave you nodding and smiling.

Similar Authors
Maria Snyder

Cover discussion: Zowweeee! I wish the girl were more Asian, as befits the inspiration for Eona's world, but otherwise the layering of the girl, troops, and dragon is very impressive.

Viking Juvenile / April 19, 2011 / Hardcover / 637pp. / $19.99

Personal copy.

In My Mailbox (68)

2011-08-14T08:47:00.000-04:00

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme inspired by Alea and hosted by Kristi. Check out Kristi's post to see what others got in books this week!

I think my bookish fortune has no bounds, because this is the second week in a row that I'm able to participate in IMM, thanks to the astounding generosity of Macmillan Publishing and Rachael of The Book Muncher, who interned there this summer and made Christmas in July ACTUALLY FREAKING POSSIBLE. (Well, sort of. Minus the appearance of a jolly fat white man dressed in red crash-landing into my apartment.)

For review:
Prized (Birthmarked, Book 2) by Caragh O'Brien
Without Tess by Marcella Pixley
The Survival Kit by Donna Freitas
Amplified by Tara Kelly
When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen
Various Positions by Martha Schabas

Yes, so you see, it did snow ARCs in Shanghai this week. I'm out of my mind with excitement at these lovely (physical!) books. Prized, of course, goes without saying, as I have been waiting for this sequel since I gave Birthmarked 5 out of 5 stars (y'know, back when I was doing ratings) last year. Donna Freitas can't disappoint, and as for the others, I feel so lucky that I have the opportunity to read them in ARC form!

So once again, a heartfelt thank you to Rachael, Caragh, and others at Macmillan who gave me this lovely gift. Can't wait to start reading these! (Eeeeeee!)

Review: The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

2011-08-12T10:25:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, magic, gothic, witches

Summary

Lexi lives in the village of Near, surrounded on all sides by miles and miles of hilly, mysterious moor. A village legend tells of a witch who was killed by villagers after a child was found dead in her garden. But when the arrival of a stranger in Near coincides with a string of children’s disappearances, the villagers want this stranger’s blood.

However, Lexi gets to know the mysterious stranger with the powers of the wind, whom she names Cole, and is convinced that he is not involved in the children’s disappearances. But in order to prove Cole’s innocence and save his life, Lexi must find proof of who she suspects the culprit is: the ghost of the Near witch, coming back to take her vengeance on the village.

Review

I’m not usually a fan of being scared, but I make an exception for Victoria Schwab’s gorgeous debut novel THE NEAR WITCH. Reading THE NEAR WITCH is like treating to yourself to a five-star restaurant, with an especially decadent dessert to top it all off: the characters and plot may at times be frustrating, but the very experience of reading this story is worth it.

I’m going to continue with the dessert analogy to describe the writing. Victoria Schwab is like an innovative master pastry chef: she takes common ingredients and spins them together with such intricacy and skill as to create formations we had never dreamed of before. I wanted to bookmark every other page in this book, to be able to go back and reread the surprising yet utterly delightful ways in which Victoria Schwab uses language.

In comparison to the writing, sometimes I felt that the characters and plot were a bit lacking. Because THE NEAR WITCH is so tightly set around one village, the atmosphere and relationships feel intentionally claustrophic. The majority of Lexi’s actions involve running back and forth between houses to figure things out. Sometimes it gets tiring, reading of the ever-increasing cycles of suspicion and desperation chapter after chapter. And some of the “bad guys” feel a little one-sided in their “badness.” But THE NEAR WITCH winds tensions up for a truly creepy resolution that will steal your breath away, an ending that was, in my opinion, worth any character or plot frustrations I had along the way.

THE NEAR WITCH proves itself to be one of the stronger debut novels I’ve read in 2011 so far. It’s a delightful treat for those who think they’re tired of magical books about witches and romance. I’m looking forward to seeing what Victoria Schwab has for us next!

Similar Authors
Brenna Yovanoff (The Replacement)
Cath Crowley (A Little Wanting Song)

Cover discussion: Admittedly I am not the biggest fan, although after reading the book I can see how it fits the mood of the story. Still, I imagined a cover that would be a lot...darker.

Hyperion / Aug. 2, 2011 / Hardcover / 288pp. / $16.99

Review copy requested from publisher.

Waiting on Wednesday (113)

2011-08-10T11:30:00.000-04:00

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18B. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it. [summary from Goodreads]

When was the last time I read a YA contemporary love story that truly blew me away? I... I can't remember. But despite this book's slightly melodramatic premise, and the fact that the last Jennifer Smith book I read was alright but didn't completely impress me, I still have high hopes for this book, especially some of my favorite British bloggers, like Jenny and Carla, have nothing but praise for it. (How did they get to read it so early? I'd like some of that!) This is the sort of thing I always find myself wishing would happen to me when I'm having a day when nothing is going right. Oh, travel woes, how I empathize.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight will be published in hardcover by Poppy on January 2, 2012.

Blog Tour Interview: Catherine Fisher!

2011-08-09T11:03:00.000-04:00

I have a special guest on my blog today: the incredi-author Catherine Fisher, of Incarceron and Sapphique bestsellerdom, is here to celebrate the re-release of The Margrave, the fourth and final book in her Relic Master series, by answering a few questions! Welcome, Catherine, to Steph Su Reads!

1. Was there anything in the Relic Master series that changed between their original release and their re-release? Is there anything you wish you could change?

There was nothing fundamental that changed between first publication and the re-issue in the US. I had the opportunity to re-read and edit the books lightly, but I feel they represent a phase in my writing that was important to me, so I didn't change very much. If you start playing around with your work you might lose the spontaneity it had at the time of writing. Of course my style has changed a little - it seems sparser to me now - but I really enjoyed revisiting Anara, and reliving Raffi and Galen's adventures with a new readership in mind.

2. Which of your books was the most challenging for you to write?

Each book is challenging in its own way. Some have difficult or complex plots that have to be worked out- such as Oracle, or Incarceron; in others the characters are hard to pin down, or are not what I expect them to be, such as perhaps, Corbenic, or my current project, which is still under wraps! In some books, like Crown of Acorns, the challenge is writing in the first person voice of an 18th-century young man, and also jumping between three stories and trying to give equal weight to all of them. Some books have pacing problems - the action drags, or goes too fast. So none of them are easy. I did find the Relic Master books a challenge, as they are very complex in both ideas and plot. But perhaps Incarceron was the most difficult book I've ever written.

3. While fantasy is not as explosively trendy as paranormal romance or dystopian, it has enjoyed steady readership over the years. Why do you enjoy writing fantasy? Why do you think fantasy has had consistent readership over time?

I don't really categorize what I write as fantasy, or dystopian or anything really. Actually I invented a term /mythic fiction/ a while ago to use when people asked what sort of books I write. It baffles people, at least! I just like to write stories with a strong element of the metaphysical, the strange, the unearthly, and that manifests in various ways - ghosts, sci-fi, elemental beings, gods. I think such stories have a consistent readership because they, like myths, appeal to some very deep need in us; they try to explain the workings of the world, and they give readers the ability in some way to control fate and nature. Which is what we all want.

4. In your Q&A section on your website, you mention that you don't write much in first person because you find it limiting. Can you explain this more? What things about writing in third person do you like?

I do find first person a bit limiting, but only in the sense that one character must see or take part in everything - if that character is not there, the scene can only be reported. It's a challenge and I am using it more often now, mostly in the form of diaries and journals. It also, of course, has huge advantages; the character can really express their depths, you can get into their feelings. But I think a third person narrator can do that too. All things are good. (Except stories told in the present tense, which I don't like.)

5. How much do you feel like your college studies and degree contributed to your current career as an author? What advice would you give college-bound students who are interested in becoming writers?

Things are different now. When I was in college there were no creative writing degrees or any way of getting professionals to look at your work without sending it to publishers. So people have a lot more opportunities for that now. But I still think you can't beat studying the greats of English Literature. If you don't know what is possible, how can you find your own limits? So I suppose my advice would be, study Shakespeare, study great literature of all languages, but don't despair and think I can never do anything like this. You can do something, and you will enhance your own work. Also the truth is it takes time to develop as a writer. As a student you are unlikely to be anywhere near your best work yet.

I hope everyone enjoys the final episode of Relic Master, THE MARGRAVE.
My favourite. And possibly, the best.

Best wishes!

-

Thank you, Catherine! Be sure to check out the Relic Master series, starting with THE DARK CITY, and visit the Relic Master series website. And here is the fourth piece of the map of Anara! Each book in the series contains a portion of the map:

About the Relic Master series:

Welcome to Anara, a world mysteriously crumbling to devastation, where nothing is what it seems: Ancient relics emit technologically advanced powers, members of the old Order are hunted by the governing Watch yet revered by the people, and the great energy that connects all seems to also be destroying all. The only hope for the world lies in Galen, a man of the old Order and a Keeper of relics, and his sixteen-year-old apprentice, Raffi. They know of a secret relic with great power that has been hidden for centuries. As they search for it, they will be tested beyond their limits. For there are monsters-some human, some not-that also want the relic's power and will stop at nothing to get it.

RELIC MASTER is a four book series. Each book will be released over four consecutive months this summer:
Book One: The Dark City, May 17
Book Two: The Lost Heiress, June 14
Book Three: The Hidden Coronet, July 12
Book Four: The Margrave, August 9

Each book will include a piece of the map of Anara, the world of RELIC MASTER, on the reverse of the jacket. Collect all four books and you will have the complete map.

Visit Catherine's author website. And thank you, Big Honcho Media, for organizing this Q&A!

Fuxing Park: A Sight for Nature-Starved Eyes

2011-08-08T10:15:00.000-04:00

If you've talked to me in the month since I've moved to China you will probably know that one of the main things I gripe about regarding my life here is the unfortunate lack of vegetation. Born and raised in the Northeast United States, I miss my towering trees, rolling hills, and lawns of green. Therefore, one of my unofficial projects here has become finding and hanging out in the green spaces that Shanghai has to offer. And I started out at probably one of the nicest parks in Shanghai.

Fuxing Park (复兴公园) is a modestly sized park located near Xintiandi (新天地), a former European occupied neighborhood renovated into high-end shopping and clubbing. European influence is abundant throughout Shanghai, and so are high-end shopping areas. However, I walked down streets that looked like this:

A tree-lined avenue! I must've been a sight, strolling down this street with a bounce in my step and a huge grin on my face, the camera planted firmly in my hand.

One of the entrances to Fuxing Park.

Fuxing Park contains a variety of "landscapes," from wide-open grass to avenues guarded by leafy trees with smooth white trunks. I rather ignorantly chose one of the hottest days of the summer so far to visit the park, and thus was very appreciative of the ample shade and seating.

But the reason I ended up enjoying my time at Fuxing so much had little to do with nature: it was, in fact, the people in the park that completed the experience for me. This is Shanghai, so there are people people people everywhere, and everyone is trying to get to where they need to go as quickly as they can. However, the people at Fuxing were not in a rush. Things seemed to run about three times slower than the city beyond the park's boundaries, and maybe it is the absence of this need to be somewhere else that makes everyone more easy-going, and I more interested in watching them.

Clusters of old men and women sat together on benches or in circles of scooters, gossiping. Young parents patiently played ball in the middle of the street with their toddler children. Men dressed in loose cotton clothing practiced taichi with their eyes closed while listening to a Chinese opera singer's warbling over their boombox. Tourist families ambled slowly by, enjoying the view and not rushing to visit a hundred other places. An artist unhurriedly set up shop on a bench, one by one leaning his portraits on the bench to attract customers. European students sat two by two on the benches and read. And me, sitting there in the middle of all that, wrote everything down with a lightness of spirit that I closely associate with special places.

I didn't stay long because it was so broiling hot, but I'd like to go back one day, maybe with some friends, and throw a frisbee around on the lawn or something before chilling out on the benches. Fuxing Park is definitely my kind of park, and I'm happy to know that there's a Steph-place in the middle of all this concrete. :)

In My Mailbox (67)

2011-08-07T09:30:00.000-04:00

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme inspired by Alea and hosted by Kristi. Check out Kristi's post to see what others got in books this week!

Surprisingly, I DO have books to talk about this week! Thanks to the astounding generosity of a few individuals, and the device built into my brain that hones in on any and all used bookstores within a 15km radius, I managed to acquire some new, fabulous books.

For review:
Relic Master, Book 1: The Dark City by Catherine Fisher
Relic Master, Book 2: The Lost Heiress by Catherine Fisher
Relic Master, Book 3: The Hidden Coronet by Catherine Fisher
Relic Master, Book 4: The Margrave by Catherine Fisher

Picture me jumping up and down and silently screaming in joy when Big Honcho Media was so astoundingly kind as to send me these four books for review. Shipping to China is no easy business, and I really appreciate the lengths to which they went for me. I'm honored; thank you. I can't wait to read this series!

For e-review:

Into the Parallel by Robin Brande

Another act of kindness that bowled me over. Robin, who is one of my favorite authors thanks to the behemoth YA contemporary accomplishment that is Fat Cat, offered me a copy of her latest novel for e-review! I have been excited for this book ever since I found out, over a year ago, that Robin was doing research on string theory for it. Cue the astrophysics geek in me. I don't think this will disappoint. Thank you, Robin!!

Bought:
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
East by Edith Pattou
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (not pictured)

I found a used bookstore! It's about the size of an average single person's bedroom, maybe smaller, but some patient digging into its double-stacked shelves revealed some gems. As I already have copies of these books back in the States, these will be donated to my company's library once I have finished them (I've already donated The Subtle Knife and plan on somehow acquiring the other two books in the series so I can reread/finish it).

So so so so happy that I was able to participate in IMM this week!

Review: Eon by Alison Goodman

2011-08-06T09:36:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, fantasy

Summary

Eon has trained four years for a chance to be picked as the new Rat Dragoneye apprentice, one of eleven whose powerful spiritual connection with the dragons is used to keep the nation prospering. Eon believes he has a chance, despite being a cripple: he has the rare ability to enter the energy world and “see” all the dragons.

However, Eon is actually Eona, a teenage girl. Females are forbidden to be Dragoneyes, and so Eon desperately tries to hide his true gender when he is miraculously chosen to be the next Mirror Dragoneye, when the Mirror Dragon has not been seen for over 500 years. It is a dangerous world that Eon must maneuver in, what with the old emperor seriously ill and political mutiny tainting the air. Does Eon—Eona—have what it takes to survive, or does the secret that Eona hides threaten to destroy everyone’s lives?

Review

If you want a hardcore fantasy set in a deliciously elaborate and complex world, pick up EON: DRAGONEYE REBORN. Goodman’s majestic tale brings to mind the works of fantasy masters like Garth Nix, Robin McKinley, Diane Wynne Jones, and more. Eon’s world is well wrought, engaging, and one hundred percent fascinating.

The world of EON is reminiscent of ancient Asian cultures, and is a careful and studied mixture of the spiritual and the physical. I loved the idea of dragons being a part of the energy world, of Dragoneyes connecting with the dragons to share a mutual power. At the same time, the physical setting is incredible: a place full of beauty and treachery, awe and horror. Alison Goodman weaves for readers a multisensory setting that’s a treat to experience.

The characters are far from lacking either. Eon is a brilliant, three-dimensional protagonist: his internal conflict of adhering to the tradition of male Dragoneyes versus breaking protocol and acknowledging Eona is heartbreaking and enthralling. Readers may be able to guess things that the often-obstinate Eon misses, but all in all Eon is a fascinating character to follow in this highly charged story.

At a little over 500 pages, EON may seem like a daunting read, but every chapter is worth it, even the few that you wish would speed up to Eon’s long-awaited revelations. I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel, Eona: The Last Dragoneye, to come out, so that I can read more about Eon/Eona and his/her adventures in this magnificently complex world.

Similar Authors
Robin McKinley
Garth Nix
Tamora Pierce

Cover discussion: The hardcover's image was what attracted me to this in the first place, so while I was surprised at the change in the paperback's cover, I'm still not disappointed with the epic coloring and silhouetting.

Firebird / Aug. 31, 2010 / Paperback (reprint) / 576pp. / $9.99

Personal copy.

Waiting on Wednesday (112)

2011-08-03T09:10:00.000-04:00

The List by Siobhan Vivian

An intense look at the rules of high school attraction-and the price that's paid for them.

It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.

This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, "pretty" and "ugly." And it's also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two. [summary from Goodreads]

Siobhan Vivian is pretty damn good at writing, and pretty damn good at writing about important and relevant issues such as feminism and the complexities of the "outside gaze" on females. I'm intrigued to see how she takes on this tantalizing premise (because I fully admit that I am interested in reading about people who "judge" and "rank" others).

The List will be published in hardcover by Scholastic in April 2012.

An Open Letter to Politics Etc.

2011-08-02T11:35:00.000-04:00

Dear World--or, I guess, more specifically, the US government and other political systems like it--please explain something to me. Explain to me why it is in humanity's best interest to support our most unhealthy habits at the expense of peace, intellectualism, and empathy. Explain to me why professions such as teaching and information services make astronomically less than professions such as professional athletics, corporate law, and I-banking. I fully admit to being ignorant of most things related to economics, capitalism, politics, and finance, but please explain to me why these three professions--one of mentally or physically abusing another human being for the sake of entertainment, one of helping rich people spend large amounts of money fighting one another, and one of playing with fake money--make so much in terms of salary when one in seven American households are not getting enough to eat.

I used to think that, much like what Jefferson said, there are some certain "truths" about being a human being that everyone can agree on, regardless of your upbringing or college major or career. The right to be happy through means that do not cause others pain or unhappiness. Shelter. Food. Good health. Not screwing other people over. Choice. But the more I see of the world, and the more people I interact with it, the more I fear that these basic truths and rights of humanity must, instead, be taught, and learned, and can all too easily be cast aside for other values.

With the recent U.S. debt talk, I'm already cringing in dread at the budget cuts that will be implemented. Want a bet that educational, reading, and library programs will continue to take hits to their budgets? And meanwhile the rich just keep getting richer. Professional athletes are still getting paid eight figures a year. Apple has more money than the US.

Please explain to me how decreasing funding for intellectual endeavors serves to benefit the world in the long term.

Sure, I'm a reader, and thus my opinion is biased. But I honestly do think that the world needs readers. Literacy is not just about opening a book and understanding characters and plots. It's about searching for answers within a vast array of data. It's about making new connections between old material. It's about reading between the lines. It's about critical thinking.

And somehow, despite all the propositions that the government has made, support for intellectualism--and thus support for progress (I know, I know, I go on about this all the time)--continues to fall by the wayside in favor of supporting mindless consumerism and short-term satisfaction. I don't intend for this to be a "back in the good ole days" rant, but in light of the boundless advances we have made in technology and the like, I admit to being quite surprised and disappointed by the simultaneous lack of progress that society and humankind have undergone.

I have long since believed that influence should be based on merit and not merely on ambition. I just don't know how to implement this change in the world. Who knows what the world could have been like--could still could be like--if we artsy, intellectual, bleeding-heart types call the shots?

I feel a little guilty that most artsy, intellectual, bleeding-heart types would so rather not play the stupid political games that occur in the government or corporate world. We're the ones with the good ideas and (necessarily) dramatic suggestions for improvement, but there's a reason, I guess, that politicians and CEOs are at the top of our societal hegemony food chain. However, despite the power of societal influences, maybe if we remember that we, as individuals, are the ones who shaped society in the first place, and if we all rose up and really demanded societal reform with every fiber of our will and resources, then maybe society can change for the betterment of all. Maybe leaders, then, would be chosen by the example they provide and not merely by their title.

So then what can and should we artsy, intellectual, bleeding-heart types do? The self- and socially-appointed bigwigs won't take us seriously. Our resources are being cut by the day. Our souls are being consumed by the corporation demon. One day we'll go to bed and realize that our daily routine has been reduced to working a white- or blue-collar 9-to-5, coming home, eating a silent dinner with the family, and zoning out in front of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila until our minds have been zapped enough for us to be okay with falling asleep having accomplished exactly the same things that we have done for the past 20 years of our lives. How will we ever escape this downward spiral?

Guess we'll just continue to write earth-shattering, heart-wringing, life-changing books.

Coffeeshops and Art Galleries: Tianzifang

2011-07-30T12:04:00.000-04:00

The area of Shanghai known as Tianzifang, off of Taikang Lu, is several of my friends' favorite place in Shanghai. It was described to me as a neighborhood containing unique art galleries, shops, and little cafes where you can sit for an entire afternoon doing work. Sounds like my kind of place, no? Therefore, I decided that it would be the first place in Shanghai I'd check out on my first day off of work since arriving here.

Two Saturdays ago, I set off for Tianzifang. It involved taking one bus and three metros and a little over an hour of time. In New York terms this is pretty ridiculous (how far can you go in an hour?) but this is pretty much the way things go in Shanghai. Fortunately I got out at the right metro stop and immediately saw this sign:

Success! Right across the street was an entrance:

Tianzifang turned out to be a tourist-happy collection of small little lanes tucked in between two larger and more modern streets. There are art galleries and souvenir shops and lots and lots of bars, cafes, and restaurants.

After wandering for a bit amongst the waiguoren with their fanny packs, white sneakers, and DSLRs slung around their necks (tourists do look the same anywhere in the world), I had lunch at a cafe that cost slightly more than I had wanted it to, which solidified my suspicions of Tianzifang as a tourist site catering to foreigners.

Not a big deal. There's bound to be places like that in all the cities in the world. But it did mean that I didn't stay as long as I had thought I would, nor did I buy anything, nor did I have any fun adventures. It's a pretty and quaint little place, but I think I will content myself with imagining it set in a small town full of friendly locals and friends. More to come as I go off in search of Steph-happy places in my new city!

Cover Lust (29)

2011-07-26T09:35:00.000-04:00

The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg

(Dial / Jan. 17, 2012)

It's simple and on the chick-litty side, but I think that its simplicity makes it stand out from most other YA covers. It gives me a little sense of vertigo: the model's going down while the words are right side up. Wahhhhh whoaaaaaa!

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

(Knopf / Feb. 14, 2012)

Ohhh, that image. *swoons* The bokeh (sp?) effect in the background, the starkly backlit models... both contrast greatly with the graffiti-style title, a mixture of the stylish with the, well, stylish (in different ways). Plus it's by Cath Crowley, who's an incredible contemporary author, and I have the Aussie version of this book somewhere... so obviously I'm going to recommend the heck out of this book.

The Death Catchers by Jennifer Anne Kogler

(Walker Books / Aug. 16, 2011)

I appreciate an epic fantasy-esque cover with an intricate design focus and a complementarily intricate border. Not only do I think that this cover will probably catch the eyes of Rick Riordan lovers, but I also appreciate the balance in the cover's layerings, from the interesting symbol and title font in the foreground, to the silhouettes in the back.

When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen

(Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Feb. 28, 2012)

Reminiscent of Lauren Henderson's Scarlet Wakefield series and Carrie Ryan's zombie books, this cover is deceptively simplistic. The muted colors and textures actually make what colors and textures there are in the image stand out all the more, like the flash of red in her hair, or the rocks in all that milky liquid (is it water? It certainly doesn't look like it!). Droooool.

Renegade Magic (The Unlikely Adventures of Kat Stephenson, Book 2) by Stephanie Burgis

(April 3, 2012)

Look at that cover!! Isn't it so fun?? I love the colors, the whimsicalness, the detail of the background. It just brings me back to the good old Disney days. Looking at this cover, and knowing how incredible a writer Steph is (I loved the first book in the series, Kat, Incorrigible), I know I can expect pure magical adventurous goodness.

Review: Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

2011-07-25T10:05:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, small town, sisters

Summary

Chloe knows that her magnetic older sister Ruby would do anything to make sure Chloe is happy. So when Chloe returns to their small Hudson Valley town two years after the tragedy that initially drove her away, everything seems to be as it once was. But it is the very sameness of their lives that makes Chloe suspicious. Ruby also seems to be acting strangely, making unreasonable demands, disregarding everyone’s feelings except the two of theirs. What secrets are Ruby hiding, and how far will she let things go before everything falls apart?

Review

Beautiful prose, a mesmerizing setting, and a mysterious premise are, in the end, not quite enough to make up for the minimal character development and slow-moving plot in this ambitious and convoluted novel. IMAGINARY GIRLS is beautifully written, but the lack of attachment I felt for any of the characters meant that I actually had to struggle to finish this book.

The jacket copy for IMAGINARY GIRLS doesn’t tell you much, and it’s better if you go into the book knowing just the little you know. Nova Ren Suma writes in a languid style similar to Sarah Dessen when she is feeling particularly poignant, meaning that the small-town reservoir-side setting and the weirdness of the situation is well-evoked. IMAGINARY GIRLS is a very atmospheric novel—and even though it’s hard express the significance of the setting, it’s also probably impossible to imagine this story set elsewhere.

The fact that IMAGINARY GIRLS seems to focus more on beautiful prose than character development means that the characters—not the least of which is Chloe, the protagonist/narrator—come off as only vaguely intriguing, their interestingness born more out of the roles they are assigned in the story than they themselves. Chloe in particular is like a spluttering match next to Ruby’s Mag-lite glow—and yet Ruby’s magnetic persona, unfortunately, anchors its credibility in the telling of her magnetism rather than the showing of it. Chloe waxes eloquent for so long on Ruby this, Ruby that, that, “in the flesh,” Ruby is actually not as intriguing as Chloe makes her sound.

Chloe suffers from “everyone is more interesting than me”-itis. In short, Chloe has no personality. She has no defining characteristics besides being the narrator and Ruby’s younger sister, which I suppose is partially the point, but then she doesn’t grow a whit throughout the course of the novel. Why is it all too easy for protagonists in contemporarily set novels to be passive and bland? I really wish authors would catch themselves when they are writing bubbles as main characters: see-through substanceless creatures that threaten to disappear into nothing at the slightest touch.

IMAGINARY GIRLS didn’t work for me primarily because of these reasons, but I know that the majority of other readers have really loved this book, so don’t take my word for it. I wonder, though, if there are or will be other readers out there who had the same problems with this book as I did.

Similar Authors
Sarah Dessen
Jenny Han
Deb Caletti

Cover discussion: In-te-res-tinggg. It's quite a stunning image... but as far as I'm concerned, it wasn't the most representative of the story for me.

Dutton Juvenile / June 14, 2011 / Hardcover / 352pp. / $17.99

Requested for review from publisher/NetGalley.

Getting Around Shanghai--Or, Why You're Only Out of Mortal Danger If You Stay at Home

2011-07-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

In a city of 20 million, there's bound to be a teeny tiny bit of traffic congestion on the streets. The roads are a conglomeration of different transportation vehicles: cars, of course; public buses with antenna-like side mirrors that reach down from the roof and thus remind me of antennae; waves of people on scooters (which are mini-motorcycles, or Vespas, I guess) with a silver container strapped on the back that I thought was either the gas tank or a super-sized lunchbox, but is actually just a general carry-all; countless people on rickety cheap bikes (if you have a nice bike, it WILL get stolen); and pedestrians and taxis weaving through them all. It makes a lot of sense to take public transportation or ride something smaller and more nimble in Asian cities, where a whole bunch of people live in the same space and are moving in all different directions.

The super-busy intersection outside my apartment!

But what amuses--and partially terrifies--me is how traffic laws in Shanghai are taken as kind of suggestions instead of, well, laws. It's common to have cars zooming through intersections 5, 7, or even 10 seconds after the light has turned red. Shocking if you're on foot and three steps out onto the road before you see that five cars are bearing down on you. Scooterists in particular are fond of driving the wrong direction in the unofficial two-wheeled vehicle lane.

All these various vehicles and people do an astonishing sort of dance around one another on the streets and even sidewalks. A bus will barrel down a street, taking the place on the road where taxis, bikers, and pedestrians seem to have been just milliseconds before. And then, a few seconds later, the bus will make a seemingly impossible dodge around three taxis and 5 two-wheeled vehicles approaching and weaving through the intersection from all different directions. I'd be impressed at the deft way in which the bus drivers handle their large vehicles and the almost total nonexistence of accidents if I weren't on the bus and being thrown back and forth by its jerky motion.

The intersection near my office (also busy, of course).

The Shanghainese also LOVE to honk. They honk at people before them at intersections who don't get moving approximately a quarter of a second after the light turns green. They honk at drivers in the lane next to them who they think are going to try and merge. They honk at pedestrians crossing the road 20 meters before them. They honk at you if they're trying to turn left and you're crossing the street and technically have the right of way. They honk when other people are honking, which leads to a whole gaggle of honks that go on and on for about 20 seconds.

(Incidentally, as I'm getting used to the metric system here, I'm quite grateful that at least the numeric and time measurement systems are universalized. Can you imagine if time is measured differently depending on which country you go to?)

The other thing about honking is that it can occur at any time of night or day. There is a bit of a lull between 2-5am (thank God), but all bets are off as soon as the sun rises at 5am, which in Shanghai means that the sky gets lighter but you don't typically actually see the sun, due to the perpetual smog. Whenever I'm awakened at 5:30 in the morning by the sound of people blaring their horns outside, I think about how in New York you get fined for honking, and whether or not it'd be possible to institute something similar here.

From what I can see, there is no such thing as "right of way" or "yield" in Shanghai. If you try to yield at every opportunity in which the Western world would consider it appropriate to yield, it'll take you three times as long to get to your destination. So no one yields, and the journey is a little more chaotic and life-threatening than it has to be, and everyone gets to their destinations in the relatively same amount of time.

The JC Mandarin, a high-end hotel, on Nanjing West Road, the street near my office.

Shanghai Centre on Nanjing West Road. Super high-end and classy hotel/shops. Some Hong Kong actor apparently arrived there when I was getting my lunch there the other day.

On the Eve of the Beginning of my Travel Blogging

2011-07-19T10:15:00.000-04:00

I am gearing up to begin writing about my new life in Shanghai sometime this week. This is actually something that I've been putting off because, first of all, much of my life is consumed by work, and second of all, because... well, the second half might be better explained in a list, so here goes:

1. I like to take pictures of nature.
2. I find it much harder to take pictures of manmade things.
3. I find it much harder to take pictures of manmade things, particularly when other people are around.
4. I don't really take many pictures of people
5. unless I am comfortable taking pictures of them,
6. which requires me to feel comfortable with them,
7. and I don't know many of those people yet here in Shanghai
8. because I am weird and solitary and would ideally live in a cave by myself if our personalities were personified in our living situations.

On top of that,

9. Shanghai is a city of, like, 20 million people.
10. Ergo, it is an urban jungle and a nature wasteland.
11. The most greenery I typically see in a day is the plastic little bobbly plant-figure in the office. Y'know, the one that has leaves that gently bob up and down, up and down, up and down all day long.

My difficulties in writing a travel blog are further typified in the fact that

12. I don't actually, uh, do much.
13. Work takes up a significant portion of my time, and at the end of the day there's nothing I'd rather do than to sit and bed and zone out with a book or movie.
14. Plus, the sun sets at, like, 7 here in Shanghai due to various reasons both environmental and political that I am too out of my mind to get into at the moment.
15. This is particularly bad for my energy because, well, my energy goes up and down with the sun, and therefore on overcast days I am pretty much all but comatose and useless.

I would do more if

16. I had someone to do things with.
17. And by "someone," I don't mean just a friend or a family member or whatnot. I'm talking about soul-mate, best-friend, significant-other kinds of "someone."
18. Again, this is due to the fact that I have finite sources of energy when spending time with 99% of the people I know, which is nothing against them, it's just that I also need a crap-ton of alone time to recharge, whereas with the soul-mate best-friend significant-other kind of "someone" the recharging can be done in their company, mostly, oftentimes, for the most part. (See #4-8.)

Therefore,

19. the type of travel blogging you can expect here will be extensive commentary on the cultural differences between China and the US, in a variety of manners, on a variety of topics.
20. The pictures will be bland and generic and totally unworthy of National Geographic, because I am too much of a pansy to get up close and personal to take pictures of interesting strangers alongside interesting sites, and there are no natural things for me to take endless pictures of here.
21. But! I do have plans to explore a different part of Shanghai on each one of my free days, so there WILL be stuff to write about, in addition to the commentary on cultural differences.
22. And, if you'd like to help me increase my travel-blogging productivity, you can find me a boyfriend. And then we can have many fun adventures and pictures with actual people in them.

The end! First Shanghai post up soon. :)

I'm featured in a Shelf Awareness ad!

2011-07-18T22:19:00.000-04:00

So this morning I arbitrarily decided to open up the day's Shelf Awareness email--something that I admittedly don't do as often as I should, since I often let the SA emails pile up until the weekend. And the first thing I saw was my name:

I thought I was seeing things, so I did like a quadruple take. But no, that's my name--really, my full name--right up on the top of the July 18 issue of Shelf Awareness. Simon & Schuster decided to use a quote from my review to promote Tabitha Suzuma's Forbidden (which, incidentally, really is an astounding book, and you can read my full review here). Talk about being floored at the honor. Wow!

I was floating in a cloud all day.

Blog Tour Review: 32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter

2011-07-18T08:55:00.000-04:00

Tags: romantic comedy, POC, Mississippi, Los Angeles

Summary

Growing up in small-town Mississippi with an abusive mother and classmates who make fun of her, midnight-skinned and wild-haired Davidia Jones makes her escape into Molly Ringwald films. Davidia dreams of her own Molly Ringwald Ending one day, in the form of the most popular boy in school and her crush, James Farrell of the Farrells of Farrell Fine Hair, sweeping her off her feet in front of the whole school. But after a particularly bad school joke, Davidia decides to head west, to LA, where she renames herself Davie and transforms into a sultry lounge singer.

However, Davie’s past catches up with her in LA when, 16 years after high school, she crosses paths with James Farrell again. A lot has happened in the meantime. Will Davie’s history prevent her from ever getting her happy ending?

Review

I have been hearing unequivocal love for this book for, oh, about two years or so before I finally had the opportunity to participate in a blog tour for 32 CANDLES. First stop: dive into the book that a small but important contingent of the blogging population has been raving about ever since its publication. And I wasn’t disappointed. I so wasn’t disappointed, in fact, that 32 CANDLES is easily one of my favorite books of 2011 so far, and one of the most adorable books I have ever read.

The star of the show is Davie Jones. Neurotic without going overboard, self-reflective without it getting in the way of pure entertainment, and unapologetically weird, Davie stands out from the slew of debilitatingly neurotic female protagonists that usually feature in romantic comedies. Davie is like a black Bridget Jones without the weight obsession, which, let’s admit it, got frustrating real quickly. Davie’s weight obsession equivalent is her endless fascination with James, which in her high school stage was admittedly a bit scary. But somehow Ernessa Carter, through the voice of Davie Jones, makes everything okay. We don’t judge Davie for her neuroses; we love her all the more for them.

No romantic comedy is complete without a swoon-worthy romantic interest, and James has got the role down pat. He is a perfect black man, and yet somehow his perfection seems like a perfectly natural part of his character, instead of a fictional construct forced upon readers that screams “I am perfect! I am perfect!” without ever actually showing us why. So, another point in 32 CANDLES’ favor. Yay!

I’m sure there are many other reasons I can go on and on about—how the secondary characters take on lives of their own; or how the plot, while twisty and turny, wraps itself up in the most delightful and unexpected of ways—but I hope it suffices to say that 32 CANDLES will retain a permanent position on my shelf, as something I will reread whenever I want a dose of a good ole romantic comedy that won’t ever fail me. Brava, Ernessa Carter, and I want more!

Similar Authors
Emily Giffin
Helen Fielding

Cover discussion: I like it! I like that there's clearly a black woman on the cover, and the woman's wild hair is definitely reminiscent of Davie's. At the same time, there's this sort of retro-esque funkiness in the colors that hints at the 80s, Molly Ringwald motif, as well as Davie's zaniness. Nicely done!

Amistad / June 28, 2011 / Paperback (reprint) / 352pp. / $13.99

Copy sent for review by publisher as part of TLC Book Tours.

About Ernessa Carter

Ernessa T. Carter has worked as an ESL teacher in Japan, a music journalist in Pittsburgh, a payroll administrator in Burbank, and a radio writer for American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest in Hollywood. Carter’s also a retired L.A. Derby Doll (roller derby). A graduate of Smith College and Carnegie Mellon University’s MFA program, she now lives in Los Angeles. 32 Candles is her first novel. She blogs at www.fierceandnerdy.com.

This review is part of TLC Book Tours' blog tour for 32 Candles. The next stop is tomorrow at Freda's Voice. Click here for the entire tour schedule!

Author Guest Post: Charlie Higson!

2011-07-15T10:31:00.000-04:00

Today, author Charlie Higson, author of the zombie horror YA novel The Enemy and its sequel, The Dead, is here to discuss the intriguing dilemma of fictional characters' understanding (or lack thereof) of their classical literary roots.

One of the biggest new drama hits of last year on UK TV was a modern reworking of Sherlock Holmes, starring Benedict Cumerbatch as Holmes and the soon-to-be-Bilbo-Baggins, Martin Freeman as Dr Watson. It was a lot of fun, very stylish, and managed to reinvent a lot of the stuff from the original books in a satisfyingly modern way – right down to Watson being a retired army medic freshly returned from Afghanistan. This was Sherlock Holmes with mobile phones, the internet and nicotine patches instead of a pipe (a really sticky case would be a ‘3 patch’ problem).

I always have a slight problem with projects like this, however. There’s an irritating little voice nagging away at the back of my mind. It goes something like this… How come nobody in the show says to Sherlock ‘Hey, you’re called Sherlock Holmes, just like the guy in the books, and you’ve got a friend called Doctor Watson! What are the chances of that?’ Sherlock Holmes, in any modern adaptation, has to live in a parallel universe where Conan Doyle never wrote the original books. It’s one of the suspensions of disbelief we are always faced with when engaging with fiction. It’s the same with soaps – why do none of the characters do what everybody else in the country does – i.e. watch soaps?

Benedict Cumberbatch as
Sherlock Holmes (digitalspy.com).

I just finished Jeffery Deever’s new James Bond novel – about a contemporary Bond starting his career in MI6. And I did sometimes wonder how come James Bond is the only person in the world who’s never heard of James Bond, or seen any of the old movies. Funnily enough, in the obituary of James Bond printed in Ian Fleming’s You Only Live Twice (supposedly written by M after he believes Bond to have been killed on a mission) Fleming attempts to integrate the ‘real’ world with the fictional world of the books. He claims rather clumsily that the books were fictionalized adventures from the life of the real James Bond, written by a friend. It’s fun, but doesn’t really work, and shows up the impossibility of fact and fiction existing side by side.

You are faced with the same problems if you put classical allusions in a story, or have echoes of classics from the past. No one, for instance, says in West Side Story (or indeed in any of the other countless retellings of Romeo and Juliet) “Hang on a minute, this is exactly like Romeo and Juliet. We’d better stop all this nonsense before someone gets hurt.” And I must confess I have never read James Joyce’s Ulysses, but perhaps one of you literary types reading this can confirm, it never strikes Leopold Bloom that in some weird way he is acting out the story of the Odyssey on the streets of Dublin.

I’ve always loved the Greek myths. I devoured them as a kid, studied them at school, and still go back to them for inspiration. They contain the templates for just about every modern story you can tell (I’m talking exclusively about western culture here, of course). Anything that involves a bunch of characters setting out on a quest has to be influenced by Jason and the Argonauts or the Odyssey. Any war story about a large bunch of heroes has to be influenced by the Iliad. Homer covered just about every variety of hero you can imagine, and set the mould. Be it pure, honest but doomed Hector, devious womanizing Paris, strong but stupid Ajax, vain but (nearly) invincible Achilles, wily Odysseus, Menelaus, fighting to get his kidnapped woman back…They are all there. I’ve put a few references in my Enemy series to the Trojan wars. I have also borrowed Homer’s tactic of using epithets - Quick shorthand descriptions of the characters so that you can keep track of who they are (red-haired Odysseus for example).

Don’t worry, you don’t have to have studied the classic to get any of this. It doesn’t take a modern day Sherlock Holmes to spot that one character – a vain but nearly invincible warrior – is conveniently called Achilleus, and reasonably bright kids should spot a clever red-haired character called Ollie. The problem is that I can’t pretend that the Greek myths don’t exist, and that some of the characters in the books might well be familiar with them. It’s the elephant in the living room. I’ll just have to front it out. I’m not going to go so far as having Achilleus killed by an arrow to the heel - I don’t think I can even risk giving him a sprained ankle - but there will be elements of his story that mirror the legendary Achilles.

I’m not too bothered how many of my readers spot the classical references. Some kids have noticed them and enjoyed them. I’ve mainly used them to make my life easier. The best writers steal ideas – but they only steal them from the greats. And, for me, Homer was the greatest.

Waiting on Wednesday (111)

2011-07-13T10:44:00.000-04:00

Well, everyone, I'm finally back online, without the aid of scheduled blog posts! I decided that 10 days of voluntary social networking isolation was good enough of a break, and installed a VPN last night. Not only can I access Facebook and Twitter now (and GOODREADS. Can you believe that China had blocked Goodreads? What's it gonna do to the government?), but Google also runs dozens of times more smoothly, and I don't get kicked off of Gmail or Gchat half so often. *grins*

I will regale you soon with my Chinese adventures, but for now I leave you with a WoW (or two, since I've been not blogging for weeks and am justifying it to myself):

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet.

Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM.

Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future.

Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out. [summary from Goodreads]

My main reason for wanting to read this book? Carolyn Mackler. I grew up on that lady's books and I will read every book she ever writes until she dies or I go deaf and blind and have no way to read anymore... uhh, whichever comes first. I'm not entirely sure where the book is going, since the summary doesn't say much in terms of plot, and that cover is not exactly one of my favorites, either, but WHATEVERRRR it's Carolyn Mackler I will read her whatever the plot and cover!

The Future of Us will be published in hardcover by Razorbill on November 21, 2011.

Irises by Francisco X. Stork

Two sisters discover what's truly worth living for in the new novel by the author of MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD.

TWO SISTERS: Kate is bound for Stanford and an M.D. -- if her family will let her go. Mary wants only to stay home and paint. When their loving but repressive father dies, they must figure out how to support themselves and their mother, who is in a permanent vegetative state, and how to get along in all their uneasy sisterhood.

THREE YOUNG MEN: Then three men sway their lives: Kate's boyfriend Simon offers to marry her, providing much-needed stability. Mary is drawn to Marcos, though she fears his violent past. And Andy tempts Kate with more than romance, recognizing her ambition because it matches his own.

ONE AGONIZING CHOICE: Kate and Mary each find new possibilities and darknesses in their sudden freedom. But it's Mama's life that might divide them for good -- the question of *if* she lives, and what's worth living for.

IRISES is Francisco X. Stork's most provocative and courageous novel yet. [summary from Goodreads]

Francisco Stork is another auto-read for me ever since I came across his stunning book Marcelo in the Real World. I was really excited when I heard that he had a new book coming out, and doesn't it sound like it will be so very powerful?

Irises will be published in hardcover by Arthur A. Levine Books on January 1, 2012.

Review: The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z by Kate Messner

2011-07-12T06:32:00.000-04:00

Review: middle grade, contemporary, science, family

Summary

Gianna Zales is a seventh-grade cross-country star, but her running career and glory is jeopardized by the upcoming science project deadline. Gianna must collect and identify 25 leaves, but that’s a hard thing to do when your grandmother’s memory is failing, the mean girls at school are out to get you, your father drives you to school in a hearse, and you’ve never been one for deadlines. Still, perhaps with the help of some fantastic people in her life, Gianna will be able to learn from all her hardships, while still completing her leaf project.

Review

Kate Messner is a shining voice in middle-grade fiction. Her characters will rank right up there with Sharon Creech’s for best-friend potential.

Messner effortlessly introduces us to the totally normal yet exceptionally charming Zales family within just a few pages. Characterization leaps off the page: Gianna’s mother, father, little brother, and grandmother all sound like they could be your next-door neighbors, the smoothness with which their characters are developed an unfortunately rare accomplishment in fiction. There are hardly any stereotypes, and those that are a bit flat (like Gianna’s mean classmates) are completely excusable and perfect in their two-dimensionality.

The story is a beautiful weave of school troubles, family troubles, dealing with memory loss, and exploring new romantic feelings for your close friend. That’s a lot to pack into a book, but it never feels overwhelming in THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. Messner proves that it’s not about the number of issues you are or aren’t allowed to include in a book, but rather the way the author integrates the problems. And she does it beautifully.

Kate Messner is undoubtedly one of my favorite middle-grade authors. Her prose is effortless and her characters rich, and readers of all ages will be able to fall in love with the characters and find a bit of themselves in the book. THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z transcends its genre boundaries and becomes a classic tale of growing up that will reach anyone’s heart.

Similar Authors
Sharon Creech

Cover discussion: Oh how I love how original, colorful, and whimsical these covers are. They seem to have lightened the image between the hardcover and paperback; not a big deal!

Walker Books / Sept. 14, 2010 / Paperback (reprint) / 224pp. / $6.99

Copy...uh, I don't remember how I got the copy I reviewed in 2009, but I own a copy now!

Review: The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett

2011-07-08T09:50:00.000-04:00

Tags: historical fantasy, magic, Austenian, Bronteian

Summary

The beautiful and bookish Ivy Lockwell lives with her parents and two younger sisters. Mr. Lockwell is a prisoner of his own mind through his studies of magick, and the country of Altania is not sure what to make of its magickal elements. Society seems to shun or disdain magick, but there are some factions within the political system of Altania that believe Altania’s ancient magick still thrives, biding its time to rise up again.

Desperate times force Ivy to take a job in the country with the enigmatic Mr. Quent. There, she learns just how tangled up she is in Altania’s magick. Ivy alone holds the key to protecting Altania from the wrath of a frightening magickal force.

Review

THE MAGICIANS AND MRS. QUENT sure sounds like something I would love. Historical fantasy, particularly with a Regency feel (although the story is set in a different world)… I’m all over it, right?

This book was of that strange breed for which I know there were deep flaws with its premise, execution, and more, and yet found myself reading all the way through.

First off, I don’t think I have ever read a book before which so blatantly copied from famous authors’ works. Beckett was clearly influenced by Austen and Bronte, not simply in terms of writing style, but in the story’s actual content. Parts 1 and 3 of THE MAGICIANS AND MRS. QUENT consist of the social pettiness and satire of an Austen novel, while Part 2 is blatantly reminiscent of Charlotte Bronte’s gothic, mystery atmosphere. The influence of these two authors on this book goes so far as to manifest itself in the book’s point of view: Parts 1 and 3 are told in third-person omniscient, whereas Part 2 switches to first-person from Ivy’s point of view. What, Beckett, you couldn’t even integrate it so that Ivy’s time at Quent’s place could be told in third person? As a reader, I simply did not see the logic in dividing these parts so. Ivy’s first-person narration in Part 2 seemed to have no significant influence on the story whatsoever, except that it makes it easier to “borrow” from the likes of Jane Eyre. Blergh.

Similarly, the disjuncture of Part 2 from Parts 1 and 3 made it feel like two different stories were being told. Even in Part 3 the happenings of Parts 1 and 2 didn’t fit together in any believable way, leaving me no choice but to conclude that Part 2 seemed like an authorial indulgence in Victorian gothic storytelling with little to no bearing on what readers are led to believe should be the primary plot of the book—that is, the goings-on of Parts 1 and 3.

So obviously the characters and their predicaments were pretty much completely jacked from Austen and Bronte (go on, read a few pages and tell me if any of Altania’s characters have never appeared in an Austen or Bronte work before). This led me to have a different reading experience with THE MAGICIANS AND MRS. QUENT than I usually have with a book—namely, that I knew the story was flawed and not very original, but continued to read out of my enjoyment of the, shall we say, “smallness” of the story. The story elements were poorly integrated, but it possesses the addictiveness of reading about petty people’s petty problems (from Austen) and the melodrama of an innocent girl exploring the “haunted” grounds of a tortured man (from Bronte). In short, what I liked about in book lay in its completely unoriginal elements. This makes me feel a little like a sellout.

So THE MAGICIANS AND MRS. QUENT is not going to win any prizes, but if you can’t get enough of Austen and Bronte and don’t mind when some rather illogical magickal elements are thrown in, you might consider checking this book out. It serves, at the very least, as great entertainment as you count how many phrases come right out of the two famous women’s works.

Similar Authors
Jane Austen
Charlotte Bronte

Cover discussion: A little bit of old mixed with the fantastical, which is perfect for this story and which appeals to me too.

Spectra/ Nov. 24, 2009 / Paperback (reprint) / 512pp. / $15.00

Personal copy.

Review: The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

2011-07-05T10:05:00.000-04:00

Tags: YA, contemporary, grief, family

Summary

It’s been two years since Tom Mackee’s beloved uncle was killed in the London terrorist attacks, and he and his family are still reeling from it, closed off from one another in their own spheres of pain. Tom quit school and “works” at a local student union/pub alongside his former friends, who, despite his coldness towards them, have stubbornly refused to give up on him.

Tom lives with his single, pregnant aunt Georgie, who has problems of her own. She feels like she can’t let her unborn child’s father, Sam, back into her life, not after what happened between them during their years-long relationship. However, with the patient love, shared pain, and quirkiness of his friends and family, perhaps there is a way for Tom, Georgie, and everyone else to heal.

Review

I have never read a book by Melina Marchetta that I haven’t loved, which makes her one of a kind. THE PIPER’S SON takes beloved characters from Saving Francesca and makes them hurt—makes us hurt in reading about their struggles—and yet leaves us with a story so powerful, so resonant, so complex, that it’s hard to imagine that such an accomplishment was achieved at the hands of a human being.

Readers of THE PIPER’S SON should not expect the same tone as was in Saving Francesca. THE PIPER’S SON is dark. That’s because Tom Mackee is angry. Two years after his uncle’s death and Tom is still simmering, still resentful, still pushing everyone away and not taking care of himself. You’d hate him for being so self-absorbed if it weren’t for how subtly Tom heals throughout the course of the novel.

Melina Marchetta’s characterization isn’t simply splendid. Her dialogue isn’t simply witty and spot-on—it’s revitalizing. The dialogue comes across as simultaneously natural and like the most wonderful thing you’ve ever read in fiction. The characters in THE PIPER’S SON really do come alive through their interactions with one another. Even Tom, so stuck in a cycle of self-torment is he, reveals himself to be capable of being vulnerable, of healing, of loving through his exchanges with others.

I had high expectations for THE PIPER’S SON and Marchetta didn’t let me down. THE PIPER’S SON is evidence of Marchetta’s incredible maturation as a writer since her wonderful book Saving Francesca. A must-read for Marchetta fans, and a book that will continue to astound me every time I think back to it.

Cover discussion: I don't think that's really Tom in the picture, but I do like the image--the stark contrast between cool colors and black.

Candlewick Press / March 8, 2011 / Hardcover / 336pp. / $17.99

Personal copy.