Wish List - June 2009

I don't actually receive many books for review. (Surprise!!!) Most of the books I review on my blog I've bought, swapped, or borrowed from the library. Of course I would love to receive some books I really want to read, and I've decided to be just a teeny tiny bit more proactive about it, rather than my usual, quiet, sitting-in-the-corner-by-myself self, the one who believes that everything runs on a meritocracy.

At the beginning of each month, I will post a list of upcoming books by various publishing companies that I would love to read. I'm not sure how this will work on a month-to-month basis yet (maybe some of my most desired ones will carry over?), but most of the list will be new, and I will update it throughout the month if I am so lucky as to have received it.

Authors and publishers, I would be more than happy to review these books for you, so email me if you'd like. Thank you! :)

(Note: I don't pick wishlisted books lightly. These books are on this list because I am sincerely intrigued and am pretty sure that I will enjoy them.)

Wish List - June 2009

Bloomsbury USA

Forest Born by Shannon Hale (Sept. 15, 2009) Thank you, Anna!

Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines (Oct. 13, 2009)

Pastworld by Ian Beck (Oct. 27, 2009) Thank you, Anna!

The Waking (Book One): Dreams of the Dead by Thomas Randall (Oct. 27, 2009) Thank you, Anna! - review and interview here

Candlewick

Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles (Aug. 11, 2009)

Delacorte Books

Going Bovine by Libba Bray (Sept. 22, 2009)

Meridian by Amber Kizer (Aug. 11, 2009) Thank you, Amber! - review here

The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore (Sept. 8, 2009)

Farrar, Strous and Giroux

The Espressologist by Kristina Springer (Oct. 27, 2009)

HarperTeen

Bad Apple by Laura Ruby (Oct. 6, 2009)

The Everafter by Amy Huntley (Sept. 29, 2009) Thanks, Sharon!

Nothing But Ghosts by Beth Kephart (June 23, 2009) bought!

Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick (Sept. 1, 2009) Thank you, Alyssa! - review here

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund (Aug. 25, 2009) Thank you, Irish and Brooke! - review here

Touch by Francine Prose (June 16, 2009) Thank you, Alyssa!

Little, Brown & Co.

Ash by Malinda Lo (Sept. 1, 2009) Thank you, Malinda! - review here

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Dec. 1, 2009) Thank you, Kami, Margie, and Cecilia! - review here

Hate List by Jennifer Brown (Sept. 1, 2009) Thanks, LB! - review here

Margaret K. McElderry

Ice by Sarah Beth Durst (Oct. 6, 2009) Thank you, Sarah! - review here

Scholastic Press

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Sept. 1, 2009)

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (Aug. 1, 2009) Thank you, Korianne!

Simon Pulse

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (Oct. 6, 2009)

Simon & Schuster

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (Oct. 13, 2009) Thank you, Becca and Patricka! - review here

Viking Juvenile

After by Amy Efaw (Aug. 11, 2009)

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (June 16, 2009)

Walker Books

Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors (July 21, 2009) Thank you, Anna! - review HERE

A Free Book a Day in June from Serena Robar + Giveaway Here!

Giving It Away For Free
(the only time Momma would approve)

"Serena Robar is giving it away for free the entire month of June. That’s right. A book a day, every day in honor of her latest book release Giving Up the V (out on June 9, 2009 from Simon Pulse). All you have to do to is sign up for her newsletter and you are entered to win. Enter once and you are in the running to win a book every day the entire month of June."

I'm not even kidding, the list of prizes to be won is fantastic, and it's so simple to enter. Just go to her site, www.serenarobar.com, to sign up just ONCE, and be entered to win a book every day in June!

Synopsis for Giving Up the V:

What's So Wrong With Waiting?

Spencer Davis just turned sixteen. But unlike most hormonal teenagers who seem obsessed with sex -- like her entire crew of friends -- Spencer just doesn't get it. She'd rather wait for the right guy and the right moment. But that moment may be arriving sooner than she'd thought.

Enter Benjamin Hopkins, a new transfer student who seems to have his eyes on our V-card-carrying heroine. He's gorgeous, funny, suave, athletic, and capable of making Spencer's knees wobble with a single glance. Spencer has never felt this way about anyone before, but is Ben truly V-worthy?

It gets even better: Serena has kindly allowed me to give away a copy of Giving Up the V, right here on my blog! (And let me just tell you, I will be jealous of the winner.) I'll make this simple for you: just leave a comment here with your email address, and you're in!

For extra entries:

+1 if you follow me and tell me

+1 if you link to this contest somewhere and let me know

+1 if you sign up for Serena's newsletter and tell me (we'll work on the honor system here)

This giveaway ends Wednesday, June 24, 2009 (my brother's high school graduation). Sorry, US and Canada only. (But come back soon and you'll have more giveaways coming...)

What are you waiting for??

Waiting on Wednesday (16)

Troy High by Shana Norris

From Amazon.com:

Homer’s Iliad, the classic tale of love and revenge, is shrewdly retold for teens in Troy High.

Narrated by Cassie, a shy outsider who fears that an epic high school rivalry is about to go up in flames, the story follows the Trojans and Spartans as they declare war on the football field. After the beautiful Elena—who used to be the captain of the Spartan cheerleaders—transfers to Troy High and falls madly in love with Cassie’s brother Perry, the Spartans vow that the annual homecoming game will never be forgotten.

The Trojans and Spartans pull wicked pranks on each other as homecoming approaches. And the Spartans’ wildcard football star, Ackley, promises to take down the Trojans’ offensive line. But the stakes are raised when Cassie is forced to choose between the boy she loves (a Spartan) and loyalty to her family and school. Troy High will seduce readers with its incendiary cast of mythic proportions.

I'm not such a fan of stories about high school rivalries, but I AM always interested in retellings, and I look forward to seeing how this one will turn out. The story of Helen and the Trojan War is especially significant to me because my dad used to tell me those stories for bedtime--in Mandarin Chinese, no less. And other Greek myth retellings that I've read were pretty good. So yeah!

....Even though I'm a huge UN-fan of the cover. Giant pouty, glamorized cheerleader on the front of a book? No thanks.

Troy High will be published by Amulet Books on August 1, 2009.

Review: Sprout by Dale Peck

Tags: YA, homosexuality, GLBT, writing

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Summary

Sixteen-year-old Daniel “Sprout” Bradford is gay. It’s not a secret, not even in their conservative little Kansas town, although perhaps Sprout would like to think that it does not define him. Neither are the facts that Sprout’s father is an eccentric alcoholic, his mother is dead, and he is their English teacher’s shining hope for winning the annual statewide essay-writing competition.

Sprout’s sexual adventures have always been “closeted”—literally and no pun intended. Then he meets Ty, and his world explodes. Ty is odd, religious, a little scary, and a victim of abuse. When he and Sprout share, however, is something that Sprout had never dreamed of experiencing. But their relationship must remain a secret, otherwise Ty’s father will kill them both. Or so Sprout thinks.

Who is Sprout really hiding from? Has he truly come to terms with his sexuality?

Review

SPROUT is a hilarious, heartbreaking, and important addition to the world of GLBT literature. Dale Peck’s writing style is fascinating: reading SPROUT is like entering the mind of a highly intellectual and insightful teenage boy. Sprout frequently goes off on linguistic tangents that occasional distract, but more often add to the genuineness of the story.

While the plot moves slowly, I believe this was okay because the book is more like an elaborate character sketch of Sprout. It is not what actually occurs in Sprout’s life that is important, but rather his thought process that gets him to where he ends up at. By the end, you want to live in Sprout’s world, be his friend, have his friends. You want to have conversations with him, console him when he is distraught, advise him when he is being dumb.

SPROUT is a 2009 must-read by a talented author whose insights and wonderful way with words will take him far in the near future. Sprout may say that his book will never be allowed in school libraries, but I hope that that doesn’t deter everyone from picking this book up and learning something from this precocious young man.

Writing: 5/5

Characters: 5/5

Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Cover discussion: 1.5 out of 5 - I like the placing of the author's name, but unfortunately this is not a cover that would've made me pick up the book. Let's hope that others can overlook it and read its greatness!

Thank you to Anna at Bloomsbury for allowing me the pleasure of reading and review this book!