BEA Week Events!

So browsing the Book Expo America website has been my procrastinatory tool for the past several weeks or so. I lose sleep drawing out schedules, finding new things to put on my schedules, and daydreaming about those three days filled with hectic meetings, nerdy book talk, and memories. Wait--make that FOUR days, because the Teen Author Carnival definitely counts as another bookgasm day in itself.

I thought about doing a Google Doc to exchange contact info for meet-ups and stuff, but then I remembered that I am much less socially awkward online (and in words) than I am in person, and would rather more closely know the people with whom I exchange contact info than to throw up a general call for arms that might have the possibility of sending hundreds of people in the direction of my BEA contact form.

So I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I will give you my phone number when we meet face-to-face at the Teen Author Carnival that takes place Monday afternoon. Here's the info:

NYC Teen Author Carnival

Monday, May 24, 2010

5:00 - 8:00 PM

Location:

Jefferson Market Branch Library

425 Avenue of the Americas [at 10th St.]

New York, NY 10011-8454

It's an event you can't miss. If you're attending BEA and will be in NYC that afternoon/evening, I absolutely recommend that you go. That's where I went last year and realized how special the YA lit community is. There will be over 30 authors there (the list is on the TAC website), and those are just the authors who have signed up and whose books will be sold at the event. You can also, for example, start chatting with a random man for ten minutes, only to be told later that the man is, in fact, SCOTT WESTERFELD.

I'm still appalled (in an embarrassed, star-struck way) that I didn't recognize him when we talked. (Though in my defense, I did think he looked familiar.)

Anyway. You get my point. Be there, I'll probably end up randomly talking to you that night, we'll introduce ourselves, realize we know and love each other's blogs, and exchange phone numbers for meet-ups later in the week.

Cool.

(If you're not able to make TAC but would still like to meet up sometime at BEA, feel free to shoot me an email! stephxsu at gmail dot com)

I also want to share with you an email I received about author signing events taking place at Books of Wonder the entire week that BEA is occurring. Again, if you're in town, don't forget to stop by at least one of these events to hear these fabulous authors talk!

When: New York Book Week --- the week of BOOK EXPO 

Who:  Amazing line-up of authors

Where: Books of Wonder, 18 West 18^th Street, Manhattan

Phone: 212-989-3270.

Website: www.booksofwonder.com

Sunday, May 23^nd

4:00-6:00 pm

The Clock Without a Face – A Mystery to Solve, A Treasure to Find!

MAC BARNETT                      The Clock Without a Face (McSweeney’s)

ELI HOROWITZ                      The Clock Without a Face (McSweeney’s)

SCOTT TEPLIN                      The Clock Without a Face (McSweeney’s)

Tuesday, May 25^th

6:00-8:00 pm

MEET THE CLASS OF 2K10 – 13 debut young adult and middle grade authors

SWATI AVASHTI                    Split (Random)
ALEXANDRA DIAZ                  Of All the Stupid Things (Egmont)
JERI SMITH-READY               Shade (S&S)
JENNIFER R. HUBBARD         The Secret Year  (Penguin)
KITTY KESWICK                    Freaksville  (LeapBooks)
JUDITH GRAVES                    Under My Skin  (LeapBooks)
JANET FOX                            Faithful  (Penguin)
BONNIE J DOERR                  Island Sting  (LeapBooks)
JAME RICHARDS                   Three Rivers Rising  (Random)
SHARI MAURER                     Change of Heart  (Westside Books)
LEAH CYPESS                       Mistwood  (Harper)
IRENE LATHAM                      Leaving Gee's Bend  (Penguin)
RHONDA HAYTER                  The Witchie Worries of Abbie Adams (Penguin)
SHANNON DELANY                13 to Life (St. Martins)
ERICA PERL                           Vintage Veronica (Random)


Wednesday, May 26<sup>th
6:00-8:00 pm


SUSPENSE, MAGIC, AND ROMANCE FOR TEENS AND TWEENS   
CHARLIE HIGGSON                 The Enemy (Hyperion)
CORY DOCTOROW                  For the Win (Tor)
GENNIFER CHOLDENKO         Al Capone Shines My Shoes (Penguin)
STEPHANIE KUEHNERT          Ballads of Suburbaia (S&S)
MELISSA WALKER                  Lovestruck Summer (HarperCollins)
LINDA GERBER                       Death by Denim (Penguin)
JESSICA BURKHART               Rival Revenge (S&S)
ERICA KIROV                          Magickeepers: The Eternal Hourglass (Sourcebooks)</sup>

ADELE GRIFFIN                       Picture the Dead (Sourcebooks)

LISA BROWN                           Picture the Dead (Sourcebooks)

MARISSA MOSS                     The Pharaoh’s Secret (Abrams)

Thursday, May 27^th

6:00-8:00 pm

WIZARD OF OZ COMIC

ERIC SHANOWER                    Wizard of Oz Comic (Marvel Comics)

SKOTTIE YOUNG                     Wizard of Oz Comic (Marvel Comics)

Review: Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey

Tags: YA, paranormal, romance, family, curse

Summary

After her father’s murder, good-girl Jill Jekel fears for her academic future when she discovers that her father had drained all her college savings. She opens the forbidden box in his office with the hopes that whatever’s inside might help her win a prestigious chemistry scholarship.

It turns out that the box contains chemistry formulas that seem to link Jill’s family to the old Robert Louis Stevenson novel of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. To unravel the formulas and win the scholarship, Jill pairs up with Tristen Hyde, a brooding British transfer student whose family has lived with a dark secret for a while. Shocking discoveries about the families’ connection and an unlikely romance abound, but Jill and Tristen must unravel their families’ mysteries before they are destroyed…from the inside out.

Review

JEKEL LOVES HYDE has a fascinating premise, but Beth Fantaskey’s sophomore novel unfortunately doesn’t live up to her debut, the compelling, funny, and smoldering Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. The pace is slow, the writing stilted, and the characters lack believability and, well, chemistry.

Jill and Tristen’s romance will appeal best to fans of those often inexplicable paranormal matchups in the style of Twilight and Shiver. Jill is a timid character whose passivity and inability to get anything done get extremely frustrating extremely fast. I suppose the point of the book is to illustrate how her love for Tristen and the formula they create from her father’s papers change Jill, bring out the “bad” side of her (the side that we all have)—but when the change came about, it happened so abruptly, with such an uneven buildup beforehand, that I couldn’t really believe it actually happened.

Tristen’s character was more attractively complex: Fantaskey does a good job of illustrating his conflict of familial demands vs. individual agency. However, his thought processes and dialogue were quite obviously conceived of and executed by a female. The lack of distinction between Tristen’s and Jill’s voices, coupled with their alternating narrative POVs throughout the book, made for an almost uncomfortable read, in that the characters never stood out and achieved credibility.

JEKEL LOVES HYDE takes an intriguing look at the complex influences of family over individual agency, but that interesting concept was for the most part sadly mired in the mundanities of a less-than-fully-realized high school adolescent setting. The teachers and classmates were stock characters, and the chemistry experiments that Jill and Tristen performed lacked a richness of detail that would make us believe they are actually doing what the words on the page vaguely tell us they’re doing. Similarly, Jill’s interest in art and Tristen’s passion for music were characteristics that never fully coalesced with their characters for me.

There is no denying that JEKEL LOVES HYDE is an ambitious book. Fantaskey’s writing “tics” of flat supporting characters, love-conquers-all theme, and colloquial diction are once again prevalent here, but unlike in Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, there is no gratifying humor or steamy romance to excuse its weaker points. JEKEL LOVES HYDE will appeal most to readers who like their paranormal romances swoony and won’t mind a slow and perhaps not quite cohesive plot. Despite the lukewarm effect this book had on me, however, I still admire Fantaskey for coming up with the most original and compelling premises ever, and will not hesitate to pick up her future books.

Similar Authors
Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Simone Elkeles (Perfect Chemistry)
Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver)
Bree Despain (The Dark Divine)
Stephenie Meyer

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5


Cover discussion: 4 out of 5 - Beth always gets the most wonderfully "broody" covers. They're different and beautiful and definitely movie poster-esque.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / May 3, 2010 / Hardcover / 282pp. / $17.00

ARC received from author.

In My Mailbox (34)

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 terms of books this week!

This is two weeks' worth! (Links go to Goodreads pages.)

For review:

This Gorgeous Game by Donna Freitas
Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott - thank you so much, Ellen!
The Karma Club by Jessica Brody
The Card-Turner by Louis Sachar
Folly by Marthe Jocelyn
The Fire Opal by Regina McBride

From Around the World Tours (not pictured):
The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller - I actually really liked this!

Won in auction (not pictured):
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George (signed)
Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George (signed)

Swapped (not pictured):
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
Zipped by Laura and Tom McNeal
Ruined by Paula Morris
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Fragile by Shiloh Walker
Violet by Design by Melissa Walker
Crazy Hot by Melissa de la Cruz

So many books... but also, my semester is ending this Wednesday, which means there will be lots more time to read now! I'm already planning my "themed" reading months for each of the summer months... :)

Giveaway Winners!

Lots and lots of 'em in this post.

The winner of a finished copy of Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien is:

#132 Alicia!

And because this book is so awesome, I wanted to spread the love worldwide, so I've decided to pick another, INTERNATIONAL winner (so long as Book Depository will ship to your country). So that lucky person is:

#358 robbo769!

The grand-prize winner of the ARC of The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez, an adorable red umbrella, and a signed bookmark, is:

#54 Kelsy Alexandra!

The 4 winners of signed The Red Umbrella bookmarks are:

#77 Kerrie Mayans
#62 Jennifer M.
#2 Priya
#33 Elizabeth Ramirez Mendoza

The winner of a finished copy of Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr is:

#46 Kailia Sage!

The grand prize winner of my Big Spring Giveaway is:

#14 Christie/Mama Bookworm!

The first runner-up for my Big Spring Giveaway is:

#570 nfmgirl!

The second runner-up for my Big Spring Giveaway is:

#283 Sylvia!

Congrats to all the winners! I have emailed all of you (in many cases I have emailed you weeks ago, and you may have even already received your prizes). For those of you who didn't win, no worries! Lots more giveaways in the future. :)