Paperback Treasures

Review: Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby

2012-03-07T06:30:00.000-08:00

Title: Shooting Stars
Author: Allison Rushby
Publisher: Walker & Company
Release date: February 28th 2012
Pages: 272
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: NetGalley - thank you to NetGalley and Walker & Company for providing a free eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

Meet Josephine Foster, or Zo Jo as she’s called in the biz. The best pint-sized photographer of them all, Jo doesn’t mind doing what it takes to get that perfect shot, until she’s sent on an undercover assignment to shoot Ned Hartnett—teen superstar and the only celebrity who’s ever been kind to her—at an exclusive rehabilitation retreat in Boston. The money will be enough to pay for Jo’s dream: real photography classes, and maybe even quitting her paparazzi gig for good. Everyone wants to know what Ned’s in for. But Jo certainly doesn’t know what she’s in for: falling in love with Ned was never supposed to be part of her assignment.

First sentence:

I crouch behind some thick green shrubbery to do my final check.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I love the idea for this book - it's so unique! The cover is adorable too. I've never read anything about papparazi before, and it's so far away from my own life, but it sounds really interesting to read about. And while I did love the plot, I thought the characters and writing were lacking, and felt somewhat removed from the whole story.

Even though the idea is great, the plot sounds pretty predictable. It's the kind of plot where you think you have it all figured out before you even start the book - Jo is going to want to expose Ned but develops feelings for him, there's a big fall-out when Ned either finds out about Jo or she confesses, but in the end Jo gives up her papparazi gig and they're together and happy in the end. Right? Wrong. The plot is totally different than I'd expected, in a good way. There are some crazy plot twists I never would have seen coming, and there are lots of layers to the story. I love how different the plot is from what I'd expected, and the crazy plot twists are fun to read about. The plot is great - it's what I liked best about Shooting Stars!

I loved reading about all the papparazi-stuff. Cameras hidden in iPods and sun glasses, selling your pictures to magazines, getting into events to take pictures of stars... It's all so far from my own life, but fascinating to read about. It's a world I know nothing about, and it was lots of fun to get to find out what life is like for a papparazo.

Jo is an okay character. Like I said, I liked reading about her papparazo-adventures, but other than that, there's not all that much to her. I liked her and she's easy to relate to, for the most part, but I didn't feel like I really got to know her. Aside from the papparazi- and photography-stuff, she doesn't have much of a personality. I can't explain it - she just felt like a very bland character to me; theres nothing special about her personality, and I don't feel like I really got to know her. There's something we find out about her towards the end of the book that could have made her a more interesting character, but that issue is never really explored.

I did not like the secondary characters at all. They're all very bland and I had trouble even remembering who's who. Ned is sweet but nothing special, and I didn't feel any sparks between him and Jo. I found their relationship kind of boring and couldn't feel their chemistry. Jo's roommate, whose name I can't remember (sorry - this is what happens when I don't feel for the characters), has an interesting story, but the reader never gets to know enough about her struggles. The same goes for the rest of the kids at the resort - I really would have liked to know more about Seth, Hoodie Boy, etc. I think this set-up had a lot of potential, with about ten kids who all have some kind of issue, but the execution is lacking, in my opinion. I never feel like I got to know Jo's dad and her friend back in LA, either. Wendy is the only character who has any real personality, in my opinion.

I did enjoy Shooting Stars, somewhat. The plot is great and keeps you turning the pages. Still, I felt somewhat removed from the story because I found the characters one-dimensional and bland. If you're looking for a quick, fun read with a unique and interesting plot, though, you should give Shooting Stars a try.

If you've read this book, what did you think?

This or That with Katie Dale (Someone Else's Life Blog Tour)

2012-03-06T11:09:00.001-08:00

Today we have Katie Dale here for a this or that interview! This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale.You can find out all about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops if you'd like to know more about Someone Else's Life!

Surise or sunset?

Hm that’s a toughie – sunsets are so romantic and can really be the perfect end to a perfect day. But sunrise (if you can get up early enough) holds so much hope and promise…but I hate getting out of bed early!

Half-empty or half-full?

Half-full. Definitely.

Summer or winter?

Another toughie – I love the long lazy days of summer, and sun-dresses, and the beach. Winter can be utterly hideous – unless it snows, then it’s the most magical time of all.

Vanilla or chocolate?

Chocolate.

Cats or dogs?

Dogs – they’re so loyal and loving. I love cats too, but they can be right divas!

Coffee or tea?

Coffee – or mint tea.

Outdoors or indoors?

Depends on the weather! I love to curl up snugly indoors, but there’s nothing like fresh air and sunshine and blue skies.

Being in a crowd or being alone?

I’d rather be alone than in a crowd. But even better is being with just a few close friends or family.

Being able to change the past or living with your mistakes?

Wouldn’t it be tempting to change the past? If it were possible I think I’d go for that – and probably cause a whole heap of trouble!

Superpower: Being invisible or flying?

Flying. I’m so jealous of birds who can just soar on the air currents and glide away wherever they feel like going.

Jeans or sweats?

Dark blue jeans – they can be dressed up or dressed down. The perfect trousers.

Polka dots or stripes?

Stripes – I’m not sure I’m brave enough for polka dots!

Make sure to check out all the other tour stops, and keep your eye out for Someone Else's Life, which has already been released!

Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale
(Amazon | Goodreads)

When seventeen-year-old Rosie’s mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington’s Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty-per-cent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when she tells her mum’s best friend, ‘Aunt Sarah’ that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie was not her biological mother after all... Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, hitching along on her ex-boyfriend’s GAP year to follow her to Los Angeles. But all does not go to plan, and as Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply-buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonising decision of her own - one which will be the most heart-breaking and far-reaching of all....

Top Ten Tuesday #7: Favorite Book Covers

2012-03-06T06:01:00.002-08:00

1. Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

I love the whole idea of the heart made out of seaglass, and the colors of the heart are so beautiful! It's great how the cover ties into the actual story, with the meaning of the seaglass and the red one and everything - I love when book covers tell you something about the actual book, or when you can only really understand the cover once you've read the book.

2. North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

I'm not usually a fan of covers with just a model's face, but for this one, it totally works. How the girl's hair covers her right cheek to hide her birthmark fits the story so well, and I love the compass, which also plays an important role in this book. (I don't know how well you can see the compass like this, but it looks really cool on the real book.)

3. Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

This cover is so sad and beautiful at the same time! The flower is gorgeous, and that one petal falling down... I just love it! It portrays the atmosphere in the book perfectly.

4. But I Love Him by Amanda Grace

I didn't want to put this one on the list along with Twenty Boy Summer since the ideas are so similar, but I love both covers so I just put them both on the list. And this one is kind of different, with the black background and all. Again, I love how the cover ties into the story here, with the heart Ann gives Connor and what it means. That, and it's just so pretty!

5. By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters

This one isn't as obviously beautiful as the rest of these covers, but it's so, so startling. The black and white picture with the red rose petals catches your attention, and the look in the model's eyes tells you everything you need to know about this book.

6. Pieces of Us by Margie Gelbwasser

I don't know what it is about them, but I love pictures of swings. I thought about putting Jo Knowles's Jumping Off Swings on here too, but I decided to go with just Pieces of Us. Anyways, I really like the message of the empty swing - so sad and beautiful. It ties in nicely with the story, too.

7. Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler

I love the whole metaphor with fixed and broken and all of that, and the cover portrays that idea perfectly. The ripped apart paper-doll or whatever you call that, glued back together again, and the fingers with the chapped nail polish... The cover is just perfect, so pretty!

8. Graffiti Moon by Cath Cowley

I love, love, love this book, and the cover fits perfectly. The city lights, and the two people sitting in the dark - I just love it!

9. Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff

To be honest, I didn't even get the cover at first - but now that I see it's a match, I love it. Fits to the story and catches your attention immediately!

10. Winter Town by Stephen Emond

I haven't read this one yet, so I don't know how well the cover works with the story, but I love the cover on its own. I love the simplicity and the whole idea - the paper snowflakes are so beautiful! I need to get around to reading this one soon!

So these are (some of) my favorite book covers. What are your favorites?

Book Blogger Confessions #3

2012-03-05T05:31:00.000-08:00

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here.

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is:

Let's talk about a positive aspect of blogging! How has blogging influenced your real life in a positive way? (not related to books or reading) Have you learned to be organized or are you more social now for example?

One way that blogging has affected the rest of my life is confidence. I know, this is going to sound super-corny, but blogging helped me figure out who I am. Before I started blogging, I read, and that was my only real interest. I mean, I had other interests and hobbies, but nothing I'm really passionate about, like reading. I'm a senior in high school, was a junior when I started blogging, so it's the time when you start thinking about what you want to do with your life. Since reading was what I was passionate about, I thought I'd try writing - maybe that would be the direction I wanted to go. I tried writing, but, well, it didn't really work. I just couldn't see myself as a writer.

When I started book-blogging, I found out how much fun it is to talk about books. I figured out that I could do something bookish without being a writer - there are lots of bookish jobs out there! I now know I want to go into publishing, and I don't think I would have figured it out without blogging. Knowing what I want to do with my life has made me more confident in who I am.

Blogging also made me more confident in stating my opinion. I write reviews - some of them good, some of them bad. Not everyone agrees with me, and that's fine. When I started blogging, I felt really bad giving a book lots of people have loved a bad review. But by now, I've gotten used to it - different people have differente opinions, and that's never going to change. I've gotten used to not always agreeing with everyone else, and that's made me more confident in giving my opinion in real life.

Another aspect of my life blogging has improved is time-management. I've gotten a much better handle on being productive and efficient. I've figured out when to waste time on Twitter and when to step back and do whatever I have to do - be it something blog-related or something from real life, like homework.

So that's the way blogging has influenced my "real life"! What about you?

In My Mailbox #48

2012-03-04T05:07:00.000-08:00

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where you can talk about the books you bought or received this week.

NetGalley:

Before You Go by James Preller
(Amazon | Goodreads)

The summer before his senior year, Jude (yes, he’s named after the Beatles song) gets his first job, falls in love for the first time, and starts to break away from his parents. Jude’s house is kept dark; no one talks much—it’s been that way since his little sister drowned in a swimming pool when Jude was supposed to be watching her. He was watching her. He looked away for just a moment. He was only nine years old. And he’s never truly grieved for her, or for the emotional deaths of his parents, who refuse to talk about what happened. Seven years later, Jude is finally, finally starting to live. Really live. And then life spins out of control. Again.
Acclaimed author James Preller explores life, death, love, faith, and resilience in a story that will grip readers from the book’s dramatic first few pages to its emotional end.

Before You Go sounds right up my alley - I'm so excited to read it!

The Night She Disappeared by April Henry
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Gabie drives a Mini Cooper. She also works part time as a delivery girl at Pete’s Pizza. One night, Kayla—another delivery girl—goes missing. To her horror, Gabie learns that the supposed kidnapper had asked if the girl in the Mini Cooper was working that night. Gabie can’t move beyond the fact that Kayla’s fate was really meant for her, and she becomes obsessed with finding Kayla. She teams up with Drew, who also works at Pete’s. Together, they set out to prove that Kayla isn’t dead—and to find her before she is.

I don't know why, but I've been really into mysteries lately, so The Night She Disappeared should be a good read for me right now!

All These Lives by Sarah Wylie
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Sixteen-year-old Dani is convinced she has nine lives. As a child she twice walked away from situations where she should have died. But Dani’s twin, Jena, isn’t so lucky. She has cancer and might not even be able to keep her one life. Dani’s father is in denial. Her mother is trying to hold it together and prove everything’s normal. And Jena is wasting away.

To cope, Dani sets out to rid herself of all her extra lives. Maybe they’ll be released into the universe and someone who wants to live more than she does will get one. Someone like Jena. But just when Dani finds herself at the breaking point, she’s faced with a startling realization. Maybe she doesn’t have nine lives after all. Maybe she really only ever had one.

The cover for this one is gorgeous, and I love the whole idea for the story!

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

2012-03-03T06:09:00.001-08:00

Title: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Author: Jesse Andrews
Publisher: Abrams, Harry N., Inc.
Release date: March 1st 2012
Pages: 288
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: NetGalley - thank you to Harry Abrams and NetGalley for providing a free eGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Find ou more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

Up until senior year, Greg has maintained social total social invisibility. He only has one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time - when not plaing video games and avoiding Earl's terrifying brothers - making movies, their own versions of Coppolaa and Herzog classics. Greg would be the first one to tell you his movies are f*@$ing terrible, but he and Earl don't make them for other people. Until Rachel.
Rachel has leukemia, and Greg's mom gets the genius idea that Greg should befriend her. Against his better judgement and despite his extreme awkwardness, he does. When Rachel decides to stop treatment, Greg and Earl make her a movie, and Greg must abandon invisibility and make a stand.
It's a hilarious, outrageous, and truthful look at death and high school by a prodigiously talented debut author.

First sentence:

So in order to understand everything that happened, you have to start from the premise that high school sucks.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I had a feeling this book was going to be good. I hadn't heard much about it, but the cover and title are amazing, and the premise is great too. And I was right - Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is hilarious!

Really, hilarious is the only way to describe this book. I was laughing out loud on almost every page, and there were scenes where I literally could not stop laughing. My family is used to me laughing while reading (and crying and screaming and just reacting way too strongly to books), but they still regularly came in to check whether I'd gone crazy while I was reading Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, because, well, sitting alone in your room and laughing hysterically does not count as normal behaviour. It's impossible not to while reading Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, though.

Greg is a great character. He's quirky and his sense of humor is unique. His insight on high school life and the way he tries to stay invisible is hilarious. I can't even explain what makes him so funny, there's just something about his self-deprecating style and his crazy ideas and his unique way of thinking. If you want to know how funny he is, you should check out the author's website - the entire book is written like those four paragraphs on the home page. Only better.

An even more funny character is Earl. Earl is unlike anyone I've ever read about. I don't even want to say too much about him because no way can my descriptions even come close to Greg's, but the paragraphs describing Earl and his family life are probably the ones that had me laughing the most.

For the first half of the book or so, there's no real plot, just Greg describing his life and Earl and everyoyne around them in that hilarious way of his. And while that sounds boring, it totally isn't. It reads quickly and is one of the most entertaining stories I've ever read.

The second half of the book is when stuff starts happening. You'd think it'd be the other way around, but I actually didn't like that part as much as I liked reading about Greg's everyday life. Since it's about Rachel's leukemia, the plot gets more serious, and I just don't think the style fits the serious content as well as it fits Greg's everyday life. I was kind of disappointed by the whole making-a-film-for-Rachel storyline - the description says "Greg must abandon invisibility and take a stand," but that's not really the way it happens in the book. I don't want to say too much and spoil it for anyone, but Greg and Earl don't decide to make a movie for Rachel and show it to the world; the world decides that for them. Therefore, the character development I was hoping for is lacking, and I enjoyed the second part of the book less than the first one.

One more thing I appreciated: Earl and Greg remake a German movie, so there's some German in the book, and except for one tiny mistake, the German is actually correct! I'm often annoyed by how authors use foreign languages and make simple mistakes - really, how hard can it be to get a native speaker to check whether what you wrote is correct? - and I'm glad that's not the case in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

Despite the problems I had with some parts of the plot, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a great book. It's not the most deep or meaningful story you'll ever read, but, well, that's kind of the point. Read Me and Earl and the Dying Girl if you're looking for a hilarious story with quirky characters. (But don't read it where anyone can hear/see you, unless you want to end up in a mental hospital. You will be laughing so much people will think you're crazy.)

If you've read this book, what did you think?

Interview with Ann Redisch Stampler (Where It Began Blog Tour)

2012-03-02T05:46:00.001-08:00

Today we have Ann Redisch Stampler here for an author interview! This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for Where It Began by Ann Redisch Stampler. You can find out all about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops if you'd like to know more about Where It Began!

1. The cover for Where It Began is gorgeous! What did you imagine it would look like? Is it similar to the actual cover, or did you imagine something completely different?

Thank you, I love the cover, too! Initially, I was envisioning a cover that emphasized the car wreck and the wreck of Gabby’s carefully constructed life. A smoke and flames kind of thing. But I realized very quickly that this cover was beautiful and perfect.

I want to add that my love for this cover isn’t just aesthetic. As I think about it, Where It Began is about what grows out of everything that Gabby goes through, how she makes it past the wreckage. And this is very much that kind of a cover, with a pensive, intelligent girl, maybe a bit shell-shocked, looking inward but also toward the future.

2. I've read you started out with picture books. What made you want to give YA a shot?

You know, I still write picture books! I have an Afghani folk tale, The Wooden Sword, coming out six days before Where It Began. I love picture books, especially richly illustrated folk tales and fairy tales. But that doesn’t answer your question.

I was an English major. I have always loved novels.

I started writing in a serious way when my kids were very small, when I was reading a lot of picture books, and I was kind of in love with them. But I always had bits and pieces of novels kicking around that I wanted to write but never felt able to write. This went on for years.

And then my youngest child left for college and I went, whoa, that was fast! Suddenly, I had much less of a sense of obligation in terms of having a somewhat regular, orderly domestic life (my poor husband) and I just hid out in my den and wrote.

3. How do you go about choosing names for your characters?

I don’t really have a process for it. My characters tend to come to me first; I visualize them walking around; and then I just kind of know what their names should be.

Although sometimes I do have to change names. For example, as I read through the first ARC, I realized that I had two very minor characters (neither one appears in the story, but other people talk about them) named Caitlyn within a few pages of each other. Whoops!

4. What's the best writing advice you ever received?

I keep repeating it all over town, but it’s Jane Yolen’s “butt in chair.” You can have the most brilliant idea and the most astonishing command of the English language ever, but you still have to sit down and do it.

5. Without spoiling anything, can you tell us what was your favorite scene to write in Where It Began?

It’s the Big Revelation Scene. If you’ve read the book, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I love the bit that leads up to it, when the tension is building, and then something else happens, which was enormously fun to write because I love the adult character involved so much, and then they’re up the stairs and wham!

Thanks for the great interview answers, Ann!

Visit Ann on her website, blog, Twitter and Facebook, and keep your eye out for Where It Began, which will be released March 6th.

Where It Began by Ann Redisch Stampler
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Gabby Gardiner wakes up in a hospital bed looking like a cautionary ad for drunk driving and lacking a single memory of the accident that landed her there. What she can remember, in frank and sardonic detail, is the year leading up to the accident.
As she takes us through her transformation from invisible girl to on-trend Girl Who Dates Billy Nash (aka Most Desirable Boy Ever), she is left wondering: Why is Billy suddenly distancing himself from her? What do her classmates know that Gabby herself does not? Who exactly was in the car that night? And why is Gabby left alone to take the fall?
Putting the pieces together will take every ounce of Gabby's strength. As she peels back the layers of her life, she begins to realize that her climb up the status ladder has been as intoxicating as it has been morally complex...and that nothing about her life is what she has imagined it to be.

New Releases March 2012

2012-03-01T06:17:00.000-08:00

New releases:

Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 1st 2012

Kelsey Finkelstein is fourteen and FRUSTRATED. Every time she tries to live up to her awesome potential, her plans are foiled – by her impossible parents, her annoying little sister, and life in general. But with her first day of high school coming up, Kelsey is positive that things are going to change. Enlisting the help of her three best friends — sweet and quiet Em, theatrical Cass, and wild JoJo — Kelsey gets ready to rebrand herself and make the kind of mark she knows is her destiny.
Things start out great - her arch-nemesis has moved across the country, giving Kelsey the perfect opportunity to stand out on the soccer team and finally catch the eye of her long-time crush. But soon enough, an evil junior’s thirst for revenge, a mysterious photographer, and a series of other catastrophes make it clear that just because KELSEY has a plan for greatness… it doesn’t mean the rest of the world is in on it.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 1st 2012

Up until senior year, Greg has maintained social total social invisibility. He only has one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time - when not plaing video games and avoiding Earl's terrifying brothers - making movies, their own versions of Coppolaa and Herzog classics. Greg would be the first one to tell you his movies are f*@$ing terrible, but he and Earl don't make them for other people. Until Rachel.

Rachel has leukemia, and Greg's mom gets the genius idea that Greg should befriend her. Against his better judgement and despite his extreme awkwardness, he does. When Rachel decides to stop treatment, Greg and Earl make her a movie, and Greg must abandon invisibility and make a stand. It's a hilarious, outrageous, and truthful look at death and high school by a prodigiously talented debut author.

Where It Began by Ann Redisch Stampler
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 6th 2012

Pieces of Us by Margie Gelbwasser
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 8th 2012

At home in Philly, Alex is angry. Angry at the dad who offed himself rather than stay around; angry at the mom who goes from one guy to the next without a thought for her family. Alex may be a player and a bully, but his little brother Kyle will do anything for his approval.
At home in the suburbs, Katie is Miss Popularity, the golden girl that everyone expects too much of, the one who will always be the prettiest and best in her parents eyes, and everyone else’s. Her shy little sister Julie just wants a bit of the attention that Katie gets so easily.
But during their summers at lake houses in Upstate New York, all four teens have a chance to leave their old identities behind. They can be anything here.
Here, no one knows the truly disturbing nature of Kyle and Alex’s dysfunctional relationship. No one knows that the girl Katie pretends to be is a lie. Julie never worries that Kyle is only spending time with her to get to her prettier sister. And the secrets that are threatening to destroy each of them seem are safe. But secrets have a way of getting out…

The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind by Meg Medina
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 13th 2012

Sixteen-year-old Sonia Ocampo was born on the night of the worst storm Tres Montes had ever seen. And when the winds mercifully stopped, an unshakable belief in the girl's protective powers began. All her life, Sonia has been asked to pray for sick mothers or missing sons, as worried parents and friends press silver milagros in her hands. Sonia knows she has no special powers, but how can she disappoint those who look to her for solace? Still, her conscience is heavy, so when she gets a chance to travel to the city and work in the home of a wealthy woman, she seizes it. At first, Sonia feels freedom in being treated like all the other girls. But when news arrives that her beloved brother has disappeared while looking for work, she learns to her sorrow that she can never truly leave the past or her family behind. With deeply realized characters, a keen sense of place, a hint of magical realism, and a flush of young romance, Meg Medina tells the tale of a strongwilled, warmhearted girl who dares to face life's harsh truths as she finds her real power.

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 13th 2012

It all begins with a stupid question: Are you a Global Vagabond?
No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.
Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward.
But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back.

Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 13th 2012

Willa's secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.
Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”—known to everyone as the Glitterati—without them suspecting a thing is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.
The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her: evening the social playing field between the haves and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.
But when the cops start investigating the string of thefts at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could Aidan wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?

The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 15th 2012

Jesse cuts her own hair with a Swiss Army knife. She wears big green fisherman's boots. She's the founding (and only) member of NOLAW, the National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos. Emily wears sweaters with faux pearl buttons. She's vice president of the student council. She has a boyfriend.
These two girls have nothing in common, except the passionate "private time" they share every Tuesday afternoon. Jesse wishes their relationship could be out in the open, but Emily feels she has too much to lose. When they find themselves on opposite sides of a heated school conflict, they each have to decide what's more important: what you believe in, or the one you love?

When You Open Your Eyes by Cecily Conway
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 20th 2012

Tessa is in love with Lucien, the son of a European diplomat. He's French and sexy and artistic. With him, she realizes how naive and American she is, and just how alive she can feel.
But Tessa’s father forbids her to see Lucien. So they meet in secret, which makes their relationship feel all the more exciting.
The harder Tessa falls for Lucien, the more volatile he becomes. Suddenly it’s not just their relationship that’s breaking the rules—Lucien knows no boundaries. And Tessa must figure out how far she’ll go for Lucien…before there is no turning back.

Life is But a Dream by Brian James
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 27th 2012

Alec and Sabrina are crazy in love. Problem is: Sabrina’s really crazy. Sabrina, an artist, is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and her parents check her into the Wellness Center. There she meets Alec, who is convinced it's the world that's crazy, not the two of them. They are meant to be together; they are special. But when Alec starts to convince Sabrina that her treatment will wipe out everything that makes her creative, she worries that she'll lose hold of her dreams and herself. Should she listen to her doctor? Her decision may have fatal consequences.

Re-releases/new in paperback:

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 1st 2012

Mara Dyer believes life can’t get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.
She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been
through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.

Bunheads by Sophie Flack
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 1st 2012

As a dancer with the ultra-prestigious Manhattan Ballet Company, nineteen-year-old Hannah Ward juggles intense rehearsals, dazzling performances and complicated backstage relationships. Up until now, Hannah has happily devoted her entire life to ballet.
But when she meets a handsome musician named Jacob, Hannah's universe begins to change, and she must decide if she wants to compete against the other "bunheads" in the company for a star soloist spot or strike out on her own in the real world. Does she dare give up the gilded confines of the ballet for the freedoms of everyday life?

Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard

(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 13th 2012

It's hard finding beauty in the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming, but 14-year-old Grace Carpenter knows it's not her mother's pageant obsessions, or the cowboy dances adored by her small-town classmates. True beauty is wild-girl Mandarin Ramey: 17, shameless and utterly carefree. Grace would give anything to be like Mandarin.
When they're united for a project, they form an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town's animal-head trophies, and searching for someplace magic. Grace plays along when Mandarin suggests they run away together. Blame it on the crazy-making wildwinds plaguing their badlands town.
Because all too soon, Grace discovers Mandarin's unique beauty hides a girl who's troubled, broken, and even dangerous. And no matter how hard Grace fights to keep the magic, no friendship can withstand betrayal.

Girl, Stolen by April Henry

(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 13th 2012

Sixteen year-old Cheyenne Wilder is sleeping in the back of a car while her mom fills her prescription at the pharmacy. Before Cheyenne realizes what's happening, their car is being stolen--with her inside! Griffin hadn’t meant to kidnap Cheyenne, all he needed to do was steal a car for the others. But once Griffin's dad finds out that Cheyenne’s father is the president of a powerful corporation, everything changes—now there’s a reason to keep her. What Griffin doesn’t know is that Cheyenne is not only sick with pneumonia, she is blind. How will Cheyenne survive this nightmare, and if she does, at what price?

Slide by Jill Hathaway

(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: March 27th 2012

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered. Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body. Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting off lately, more distant, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane. Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

These are this month's releases I'm anticipating. What March releases are you most excited for?

This or That with Kyle from Pieces of Us (Pieces of Us Blog Tour)

2012-02-29T06:24:00.002-08:00

Today we have Kyle from Pieces of Us here for a this or that interview! This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for Pieces of Us by Margie Gelbwasser.You can find out all about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops if you'd like to know more about Pieces of Us!

This or that with Kyle:

Sunrise or sunset?

There's beauty in both.

Half-empty of half-full?

Things stopped being half-full when you turned nine.

Summer or winter?

Lake houses are summer, safety is summer. Definitely summer.

Movies or TV?

The darkness, getting lost in the crowd and your thoughts. Movies, it is.

Outdoors or indoors?

Indoors if you're the only one home. Otherwise, outdoors.

Being in a crowd or being alone?

Either, as long as it's without Mom or Alex.

Being able to change the past or living with your mistakes?

If you could change the past, you would feel like living.

Superpower: Being invisible or being able to fly?

Disappearing would be heaven.

Margie Gelbwasser on writing Kyle:

When I was a kid, I went to upstate New York to a bungalow colony. It was a bunch of little houses that people stayed in for the summer, and we all went there with our grandparents. The lake houses are based on this. When we were there, there were two brothers. The older one was a player and all the girls wanted him. He was fourteen. The younger one was five. Whenever the older one got a girlfriend, he encouraged the five year old to grab her boob or hit her on the butt. The girls thought it was funny. The younger brother thought it was funny. I was nine and thought it was strange. When I started writing PIECES OF US and about the lake houses, those brothers popped into my head. I wondered what would happen if the situation escalated through the years, if it was darker. Originally, Kyle's story was there but in the background. However, the more I wrote, the more extensive the drafts, the more Kyle came through. I see PIECES OF US as his and Katie's story. I also see Kyle as the most innocent of the four and who I feel for the most. To me, there's more hope for Kyle's future than any of the others.

I loved Pieces of Us - you can check out my review here. It will be released on March 8th.

Pieces of Us by Margie Gelbwasser
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Review: Pieces of Us by Margie Gelbwasser

2012-02-28T07:33:00.002-08:00

Title: Pieces of Us
Author: Margie Gelbwasser
Publisher: Flux
Release date: March 8th 2012
Pages: 336
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: NetGalley - thank you to NetGalley and Flux Books for providing a free eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

Two families. Four teens. A summer full of secrets. Every summer, hidden away in a lakeside community in upstate New York, four teens leave behind their old identities…and escape from their everyday lives. Yet back in Philadelphia during the school year, Alex cannot suppress his anger at his father (who killed himself), his mother (whom he blames for it), and the girls who give it up too easily. His younger brother, Kyle, is angry too—at his abusive brother, and at their mother who doesn’t seem to care. Meanwhile, in suburban New Jersey, Katie plays the role of Miss Perfect while trying to forget the nightmare that changed her life. But Julie, her younger sister, sees Katie only as everything she’s not. And their mother will never let Julie forget it. Up at the lake, they can be anything, anyone. Free. But then Katie’s secret gets out, forcing each of them to face reality—before it tears them to pieces.

First sentence:

I first met Alex (or Sasha, as his grandparents call him) the day the chicken man came to the lake house.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I liked Margie Gelbwasser's debut, Inconvenient (review), so I was really excited to read her sophomore novel. Add to that the gorgeous cover and awesome-sounding description, and I was sure I'd love Pieces of Us. And while I did love it, it's really, really different from what I'd expected.

The writing is what I liked best about Inconvenient, and it's what I liked best about Pieces of Us, too. Margie Gelbwasser just has a way with words and a great sense of how to give unique situations important symbolic meaning that will stick with you for a long, long time. Every sentence is graceful and rich. Her style is beautiful and vivid. The writing is what makes Pieces of Us work, even in the parts where I had problems with the plot or characters. Margie Gelbwasser created a great sense of atmosphere - even when nothing much is happening, you feel like you're right there with the characters. The atmosphere is tragic and dark, to the point of being somewhat depressing. The great writing even made the unusual narrative work - one of the perspectives is written with a second-person narrator, which is weird in the beginning and takes some getting used to, but is actually pretty genius, when you think about it, and skillfully executed.

The description makes it sound like Pieces of Us takes place over just one summer, but it really covers more than two years of summers and the time in between, too. That made me like the plot a little less, because the pacing is pretty slow and some parts are kind of boring.

Pieces of Us is a lot darker than I'd expected. I thought there would be someting about all of their pasts and problems, but I thought there'd be some romance, too (as in, the two older siblings are going to fall in love and the younger siblings too and they're all going to live happily ever after). And while there are some romantic-interest type relationships, there is no romance in that sense - the novel offers a very pessimistic view of love. The whole story has a dark and gloomy atmosphere, and what happens is dark and tragic, too. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but some terrible, terrible things happen in Pieces of Us, making you think about how anyone could be so cruel. If I had to pick one word to describe Pieces of Us, it would be "haunting." I could definitely see this being too dark for some people, but it worked for me because, well, I'm weird and I like dark stories. What you're reading is horrible and so wrong, but you can't help reading and wanting to know what happens next.

The characters are so complex; I don't even know how to describe them. I really liked Julie in the beginning, and her issues with their mom and not being able to live up to Katie are easy to relate to. But later, she makes some really bad choices, and I got frustrated with her after a while. With Katie, it was the exact opposite. I didn't like the carefree and selfish Katie we meet at the beginning of the story, but once the "nightmare that change her life" happens, I could easily sympathize. What she has to go through is terrible, and her helplessness shines through, so that you can't help but feel for her. Towards the end, her bad decisions frustrated me again, though. Alex, though, I just hated throughout the novel. Of course having your father kill himself and that other stuff I can't talk about is all terrible, but ugh! That's no excuse to be such a total and complete ass. Kyle is the character I liked best, since he's the only one who seems to want to do the right thing. I really liked him and found him easiest to relate to.

I know what I said about the characters doesn't sound all that positive, and it's true that they're not all that likeable and make some bad decisions, but it somehow works. They're all fully-developed, realistic characters with complex backgrounds and problems. Their emotions are raw and the relationships are so complex and real. It's strange - I usually need to like the MC in order to like the book, but in Pieces of Us, I didn't mind not really liking the characters. They're so well-written and complicated and real that it doesn't matter.

I absolutely love the cover and title of Pieces of Us, so much more now that I've read the book. Pieces of Us is the perfect title for a story about such broken people, and I love how the swings on the cover tie into the story.

Pieces of Us is a strong, haunting story with graceful, atmospheric writing and complex characters with even more complex relationships. It's hard to pin down - it doesn't have one set topic, just four broken people living in a broken world. I don't think it would work for everyone simply because it's really, really dark - there's an overall sense of desperation and a very pessimistic view of humanity that makes this book hard to read. It worked for me though, and I encourage you to give it a try, if you think you can handle it. Pieces of Us is unlike anything I've ever read before.

If you've read this book, what did you think?

Come back tomorrow, when Kyle stops by the blog as part of the Pieces of Us blog tour - which is perfect, since he's my favorite character!

Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

2012-02-27T06:06:00.000-08:00

Title: The Fault in our Stars
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton
Release date: January 10th 2012
Pages: 272
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.
Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.
Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

First sentence:

Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, probably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Oh. My. God. The Fault in Our Stars is so freaking amazing. There are no words to describe it. I knew I was going to love it, since John Green is one of my favorite authors, and everything about The Fault in Our Stars looked amazing, but wow. It exceeded my higher-than-high expectations. I don't even know what to say - nothing I could write could ever show how truly amazing this book is.

John Green's style is unique, so, so great. He conveys his awesome sense of humor in his writing - you can't not laugh at least once while reading a John Green book. His writing is serious, too, though, emotional, thought-provoking and just plain beautiful. This book is the perfect mixture between literary and entertaining - you want to read it as fast as possible to find out what happens; but at the same time, you want to savor every sentence and never let the book end. John Green can make you laugh, cry and think about the meaning of life all within one page.

Hazel is such a great MC. I was a little worried about John writing from a girl's POV for the first time, but it worked perfectly. Hazel's sense of humor and her way of thinking are unique and interesting. I loved her from the first page on.

And then there's Augustus. Oh, Augustus. Even his name is amazing. When I first read the name Augustus, I thought it was weird and kind of ugly, and now... Augustus Waters has to be the hottest name ever invented. And that's just his name - the actual person is even better. Augustus is unlike anyone I've ever read about - there's no way to describe him, he's just perfect. He's perfect without being perfect, which is the best kind of perfect. Hazel and Augustus are adorable together. The way they treat each other is so sweet, and their bantering is hilarious.

The plot is tragic - I cried loads while reading The Fault in Our Stars. But it's awesome and crazy and fun, too - I loved everything Hazel and Augustus do together, everything about An Imperial Affliction, just... everything.

I can't even think of anything more to say - The Fault in Our Stars is too perfect for me to adequately express my love for it. My favorite of John's Green books, by far. With quirky, unique and lovable characters, and writing that is somehow hilarious, entertaining, literary, thought-provoking and emotional, all wrapped in one, The Fault in Our Stars is a beautiful portrayal of what it means to be alive. It makes me want to never read any other book, and just reread this one over and over again.

If you've read this book, what did you think?

In My Mailbox #47

2012-02-26T06:02:00.000-08:00

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where you can talk about the books you bought or received this week.

Bought:

The Fine Art of Truth and Dare by Melissa Jensen
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Ella is nearly invisible at the Willing School, and that’s just fine by her. She’s got her friends— the fabulous Frankie and their sweet cohort Sadie. She’s got her art— and her idol, the unappreciated 19th-century painter Edward Willing. Still, it’s hard being a nobody and having a crush on the biggest somebody in the school: Alex Bainbridge. Especially when he is your French tutor, and lessons have started becoming, well, certainly more interesting than French ever has been before. But can the invisible girl actually end up with a happily ever after with the golden boy, when no one even knows they’re dating? And is Ella going to dare to be that girl?

This one just looks like so much fun!

Bunheads by Sophie Flack
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Bunheads has been on my wishlist for ages, and I finally got around to buying a copy this week.

NetGalley:

Kiss the Morning Star by Elissa Janine Hoole
(Amazon | Goodreads)

The summer after high-school graduation, a year after her mother’s tragic death, Anna has no plans – beyond her need to put a lot of miles between herself and the past. With forever friend Kat, a battered copy of Kerouac’s DHARMA BUMS, and a car with a dodgy oil filter, the girls set out on an epic road trip across the USA. Maybe somewhere along the way they’ll prove or disprove the existence of God. Maybe they’ll even get laid . . .
It’s a journey both outward and inward. Through the Badlands and encounters with predatory men and buffalo. A crazy bus ride to Mexico with a bunch of hymn-singing missionaries. Facing death, naked in the forest with an enraged grizzly bear . . . Gradually, Anna realizes that this is a voyage of discovery into her own self, her own silent pain – and into the tangled history that she and Kat share. What is love? What is sexual identity? And how do you find a way forward into a new future – a way to declare openly and without fear all that lies within you?

I didn't even know this one was on NetGalley until I saw it in someone's IMM last week, and then I immediately searched NetGalley and requested it. (For some reason, it's not classified as YA, so that's why I didn't see it before.) Anyways, I'm so excited for Kiss the Morning Star - grief and a road trip; what more could you want?

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Review: Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

2012-02-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

Title: Catching Jordan
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release date: December 1st 2011
Pages: 281
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

What girl doesn’t want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn’t just surrounded by hot guys, though—she leads them as the captain and quarterback on her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys, and that’s just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university. But now there’s a new guy in town who threatens her starring position on the team…and has her suddenly wishing to be seen as more than just a teammate.

First sentence:

I once read that football was invented so people wouldn't notice summer ending.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I know you're probably sick of all the gushing 5-star reviews Catching Jordan has been getting, but I have no choice but to write another one of them - Catching Jordan is amazing!

Despite the great reviews it's been getting, I'd been wary of reading Catching Jordan. I don't know the first things about football - I'm a girly girl, the type Jordan would roll her eyes at. That wasn't a problem at all, though. There are descriptions of practice and matches where I thought I'd have no idea what's going on, but Miranda Kenneally managed to work around that - she explains everything you need to know, without it seeming like she's explaining anything. The way Jordan talks makes it clear whether what's happening on the field is good or bad so that even I got what was going on, at least enough to to get the main point, and Jordan's voice still seems authentic, as if she were talking to someone who knows football - she manages to make those explanations a part of the story, without seeming obvious.

Jordan is what makes this whole thing work. We're as different as can be, but I had no trouble relating to her. Her voice is great, so real and hilarious. I love how she can pig out with the guys one moment and talk about her feelings next, with revelations like "Oh crap. I sound like a girl!" at the end of an emotional scene to make sure it never gets sappy. I love how blunt she is. I can't even explain it, she's just so, so lovable. All the little things make Jordan a great character. The way she talks is unique, hilarious, and while she'd beat the crap out of me for saying this, adorable. How can you not love someone who says "My rock's splash kicked his rock's splash's ass." ? (That might not be the exact quote, I'm too lazy to look it up, but she says something along those lines.) Jordan is strong and in control, but she's vulnerable too, and the different sides of her are portrayed really well and make for a realistic, dynamic main character. The only thing I didn't like is that she's just a little too confident about her football-skills, in my opinion.

The plot is perfectly-paced, with just the right complexity of storylines and secondary characters to be entertaining without getting confusing or too out there. Almost every book has a storyline I don't like as much as the others, but I loved every scene in Catching Jordan! I thought Catching Jordan would be mainly romance, and while there's definitely some swooning in order, that's not the only thing going on - Catching Jordan is a richly layered coming-of-age story. The relationships between Jordan and her parents are portrayed realistically, and Jordan's relationship with her brother Mike is adorable. I appreciate how the issue of sexism is addressed, especially with the dad's character, without that being the main issue or the tone getting preachy. The teammates are great characters too - I loved the scenes with JJ and Carter. How they interact with Jordan is hilarious and so sweet. I even liked Carrie and Marie and how they showed Jordan that girls don't all suck. All the characters are fully-developed and so vivid - I could easily imagine each and every one of them, even the small, inconsequential ones like Ty's little sister Vanessa.

The romance is everything you can hope for and more. I don't want to say too much about the romance because it turned out to be very different than I'd originally thought and I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but wow. Ty is a great character, and I liked reading about him and his family-issues. And while I liked him, my heart was with Henry from the beginning on. He's the classic boy-next-door, and he's so sweet to Jordan. The way these two interact is hilarious and plain adorable. I found myself hoping Jordan and Henry would turn into more than friends, and I'm glad Miranda Kenneally ended up exploring that option, too. For once, the dreaded love triangle works.

I loved Catching Jordan so, so much. It's the kind of book that reminds me of why I love reading. With one of the most unique and lovable main characters I've read in a long time, a fully-developed cast of secondary characters, and vivid writing, Catching Jordan is a sweet and hilarious story of finding your place in this world. I can't wait to read more by this immensely talented debut author!

If you've read this book, what did you think?

I did a this or that interview with Miranda Kenneally a while ago for the Catching Jordan blog tour, which you can check out here!

Review: New Girl by Paige Harbison

2012-02-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

Title: New Girl
Author: Paige Harbison
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Release date: January 31st 2012
Pages: 304
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: NetGalley - thank you to HarlequinTeen and NetGalley for providing a free eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

They call me 'New Girl'...
Ever since I arrived at exclusive, prestigious Manderly Academy, that’s who I am. New girl. Unknown. But not unnoticed—because of her.
Becca Normandy—that’s the name on everyone’s lips. The girl whose picture I see everywhere. The girl I can’t compare to. I mean, her going missing is the only reason a spot opened up for me at the academy.
And everyone stares at me like it’s my fault.
Except for Max Holloway—the boy whose name shouldn’t be spoken. At least, not by me. Everyone thinks of him as Becca’s boyfriend…but she’s gone, and here I am, replacing her. I wish it were that easy. Sometimes, when I think of Max, I can imagine how Becca’s life was so much better than mine could ever be.
And maybe she’s still out there, waiting to take it back.

First sentence:

The panoramic view outside the windows of the bus showed a world that wasn't mine.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I really don't know what to say about this book - I'm not sure whether I hated it or loved it, which is strange, because I usually already know while reading whether or not I like a book. The idea for New Girl sounded creepy in a good way, but I still wasn't sure what to expect, since I'd heard mixed things about Paige Harbison's debut, Here Lies Bridget. So I can't say my expectations were met or not met - I just have really, really conflicted feelings about New Girl.

Before reading New Girl, I didn't even know it's a retelling of the classic Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and I probably still wouldn't know if someone hadn't pointed it out to me. Since I didn't read the original, I can't tell how New Girl ties into that story. I think it works as a stand-alone, though, since I didn't feel like I didn't get something because of not having read Rebecca.

The background of the story didn't make all that much sense to me. The new girl had wanted to go to this boarding school when she was thirteen, but her application was rejected. Now, four years later, her parents tell her they'd secretly been applying for her every year, and this year she got in. I'm sorry, but that's just... weird. Why would the parents just assume their daughter still wants to go, four years later, when she hasn't mentioned it since? And why would they think changing schools for your senior year is a good idea, when there's absolutely no reason to leave? I also didn't get why the new girl didn't just say she doesn't want to go - she's always talking about how much life at the boarding school sucks and how much she misses her friends and the weather back in Florida, but she never says anything to anyone and doesn't tell her parents she wants to stay in Florida, which I didn't get.

The situation at school doesn't make much sense, either. A spot opened up because Becca's gone, and that's why new girl can go to that boarding school. When she gets there, there's still some of Becca's stuff in Becca's old room and now the new girl's room, still all of her pictures hanging on the wall. Wouldn't her parents have picked that stuff up, or wouldn't the school have done something about it? What did they expect the new girl to do, live with Becca's pictures on her wall and Becca's sheets on her bed? How can the school possibly think that's a good idea? Isn't it obvious that would cause problems between Dana, Becca's old roommate and now the new girl's roommate, and the new girl? I don't think it's realistic how the school just didn't take care of that at all.

I really liked how the new girl's name isn't revealed until the very end. That aspect is skillfully written, so much so that I didn't even notice until I wanted to take notes on her character and realized I didn't know her name.

Other than that, the MC is an okay, bland character. She's not terrible, and I could feel for her, but she's not special, either - nothing noteworthy about her, really. I got annoyed with her a few times when she doesn't see why people are upset with her - of course it's not her fault, but you have to admit it's got to be hard to accept someone who's now sleeping in your missing friend or classmate's bed, hanging out with the people your missing friend or classmate hung out with, and liking your missing friend or classmate's boyfriend. She got upset when people blamed her and said she as trying to replace Becca, and while of course it's not her fault, I would have liked to see her show some more sympathy towards those who lost Becca.

This book is partially written from Becca's point of view, which I didn't know beforehand. She's a fascinating character. I didn't like her - she's a manipulative bitch who would do anything to get attention, only thinks of herself and doesn't care whom she hurts by trying to get what she wants - but I was strangely mesmerized by her, like the other characters were, too. I found myself enjoying her chapter's more than the new girl's, even though that might just be because of the mystery aspect - I wanted to find out what happened to her, and the mystery is really what kept me turning the pages.

The secondary characters didn't really do it for me, and the relationships between the characters are strange. I got annoyed at Max and the new girl and how they couldn't make up their minds. Usually, I'm a fan of forbidden romance, but the chemistry is missing; there's no spark to their relationship. And there's no chemistry between Becca and Max. I guess that's the point, but there's no real chemistry between Becca and Johnny, either, and Johnny is just a very bland character. Most of the secondary characters are bland and boring - Julia, Madison, Cam and Blake don't seem to have any personalities of their own. Dana is the only really interesting character - I would have liked to know more about her relationship with Becca and seen some more development in her relationship with the new girl. The whole crowd at the boarding school acted strangely, and the rumors they make up about Becca's disappearance are just weird. For example, they think she might be pregnant, but how would that work? The police and Becca's parents don't know where she is, and wouldn't she have gone home if she wanted to hide her pregnancy from the people at school? Those theories just didn't make sense to me.

I know, my review is not what you'd call coherent - just lots of paragraphs about something I liked and something I disliked about New Girl, with no real connections of the paragraphs. I'm sorry, but that's exactly how I feel about this book - there are things I loved and things I hated. While it's not going to be one of my favorites, mainly because the unrealistic background and bland characters, I do recommend this book - a strong, intriguing mystery storyline makes New Girl worth reading.

If you've read this book, what did you think?

Guest Post by Denise Grover Swank (Here Blog Tour)

2012-02-22T05:36:00.000-08:00

This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for Here by Denise Grover Swank.You can find out all about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops if you'd like to know more about Here!

Today we have Denise Grover Swank here for a Teenage Garage Sale post! A Teenage Garage Sale post is basically just a guest post on what kind of things we’d find if Denise were to have a garage sale of items from her teenage years.

A yellow skateboard—My younger brothers and I all got skateboards and we spent most of the summer between my 6th and 7th grade year plowing down a huge hill in our neighborhood. It’s a wonder someone didn’t break anything. Oh, wait. My brother broke his clavicle. Twice.

An Eight-Track stereo/record player—I saved every bit of money I could to buy that stereo during my seventh grade year. The Kmart clerk wasn’t sure how to handle all of my coins. I think I paid ten dollars in pennies. The stereo cost $100, which when I think about it now, was a small fortune. The first thing I listened to when I got home? Barry Manilow. Gawd, I’m old.
Sean Cassidy Albums—yes albums. Sean Cassidy, younger brother to former teen heart throb David Cassidy of The Partridge Family. Sean was in a very short lived show called The Hardy Boys. But the show lived long enough to plaster Sean’s face on more than a few Tiger Beat magazines.

Eight-Track of Pat Benatar—Disco was alive and well when I was in high school until I heard “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” My taste in music has never been the same.
Spiral Notebooks, used—I constantly wrote in spiral notebooks, be it poetry, short story ideas or love letters.

A brown beret—I took three years of French and loved anything that had to do with France. However, some things are better left to the French.

Gauchos—God save the poor soul who thought those wide leg capri length monstrosities looked good. And have mercy on those of us who wore them.

A 1976 Mustang, yellow with black leather seats and a custom installed eight-track player—I seem to have a thing for eight-tracks, huh? They were our CDs back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The Mustang was my second car. My first was a Plymouth Cricket. Never heard of it? Yeah, neither had I. I bought it for $600 with my own money from my part time job at Wendy’s. It died about a month later, prompting the purchase of my used Mustang. It didn’t have air conditioning, but a couple of guy friends installed the stereo for me. I loved that car.

Thanks for the great guest post, Denise!

Make sure to check out all the other stops of this blog tour, and keep your eye out for Here - it's already been released! You can read my review here.

Here by Denise Grover Swank
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Sixteen year old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before.
Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months. When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from.

Character Tweets by Jess Rothenberg (The Catastrophic History of You and Me Blog Tour)

2012-02-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

Today we have Jess Rothenberg here to do some character tweets for the cast of The Catastrophic History of You and Me! This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg. You can find out all about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops if you'd like to know more about The Catastrophic History of You and Me!

So here are the character tweets!

Hey @BrieLikeTheCheese! What’s-a-happenin-hot-stuff?

@HolyJeansBoy Uh, is that pizza on your face or are u just happy to see me?

@BrieLikeTheCheese Definitely pizza. (I’m saving it 4 later.)

@HolyJeansBoy Of course you are. Silly me.

@BrieLikeTheCheese Knock, knock.

@HolyJeansBoy #KillMeNow.

@BrieLikeTheCheese #ALittleLateForThatAngel. Knock, knock.

@HolyJeansBoy Who’s there?

@BrieLikeTheCheese Banana.

@HolyJeansBoy Oh, you’ve got to be kidding.

@BrieLikeTheCheese Come on, just play along.

@HolyJeansBoy Banana who?

@BrieLikeTheCheese Knock, knock.

@HolyJeansBoy Patrick!

@BrieLikeTheCheese No, see, when I say “knock, knock” YOU say “who’s there?”

@HolyJeansBoy OKAY. W-h-o’-s t-h-e-r-e?

@BrieLikeTheCheese Huh?

@HolyJeansBoy I SAID—

@BrieLikeTheCheese Knock, knock.

@HolyJeansBoy #SomebodySaveMeeee

@BrieLikeTheCheese Banan—HEY. Who moved my slice of cheese??

@HolyJeansBoy Hm, no idea. *crunches loudly on pizza* Must have been @TheHaminator.

@BrieLikeTheCheese Knock, knock.

@HolyJeansBoy Who’s there?

@BrieLikeTheCheese Orange.

@HolyJeansBoy ….

@BrieLikeTheCheese C’mon, we’ve been thru this. You’re SUPPOSED to say—

@HolyJeansBoy ORANGE WHO?!!

@BrieLikeTheCheese Orange you glad we’re 2gether for all eternity? <3

Make sure to check out all the other stops of the tour, and keep your eye out for The Catastrophic History of You and Me, which is out today!

The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Brie's life at sixteen: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally. But now that she's in heaven, Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend knows a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there's Patrick, Brie's mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul who's been D&G (dead and gone) much longer than she . . . and who just might hold the key to her forever after. With Patrick's help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she's ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

Top Ten Tuesday #6: Books I'd Save If My House Was on Fire

2012-02-21T02:58:00.001-08:00

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish with a different topic for a top-ten list each week. You can find out more about it here.

The links will take you to my reviews (if available).

This week's topic is:

Top Ten Books I'd Save If My House Was on Fire (or any other disaster struck)

This topic is evil. EVIL. I don't want to think about losing my books to a fire! My poor babies! I can't stand the thought of evil flames killing all my beautiful books! It was almost impossible to make this list - I can't save only ten! But, anyways, here is my list:

1. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Cornelia Funke is the first author I ever met in person, and I can't imagine losing my signed copy of Inkheart to a fire. (That's the German cover, the one I have.)

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I love this book so, so much. It makes me want to change every 5-star-review I've written to a 4-star one so that this one can have the 5 stars all to itself.

3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Just because.

4. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

This is the book I've read the most times - I just love The Truth About Forever. My copy is already worn from having been read so often, but I could never let go of it.

5. Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Twenty Boy Summer is an all-around gorgeous book. The actual novel is gorgeous, and the cover and design are gorgeous too. Whenever I pass my bookshelf, I want to take this book off the shelf and hug it - I just love Twenty Boy Summer.

6. Saving June by Hannah Harrington

The same goes for Saving June - another book I want to hug and never let go.

7. Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles

...And for Jumping Off Swings. You guessed it, I want to hug this book too.

8. Hold Still by Nina LaCour

The reason I want to rescue Hold Still is that this one isn't just an amazing novel; it also has gorgeous artwork in it! I'm not usually a fan of pictures in books, but the art in Hold Still is so beautiful!

9. Sweetearts by Sara Zarr

I just love this book so much. Such a beautiful, heartbreaking story.

10. I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler

I've said this before, but I have a thing for Sourcebooks Fire books. The covers and design are all so beautiful, and I'm Not Her is my favorite of their books.

So these are the ten books I'd save if my house was on fire, even though it hurts my soul to know the rest of them would burn. Anyways, what ten books would you save if your house was on fire?

In My Mailbox #46

2012-02-19T05:26:00.000-08:00

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where you can talk about the books you bought or received this week.

Bought:

Choker by Elizabeth Woods
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Sixteen-year-old Cara Lange has been a loner ever since she moved away from her best and only friend, Zoe, years ago. She eats lunch with the other girls from the track team, but they're not really her friends. Mostly she spends her time watching Ethan Gray from a distance, wishing he would finally notice her, and avoiding the popular girls who call her "Choker" after a humiliating incident in the cafeteria.
Then one day Cara comes home to find Zoe waiting for her. Zoe's on the run from problems at home, and Cara agrees to help her hide. With her best friend back, Cara's life changes overnight. Zoe gives her a new look and new confidence, and next thing she knows, she's getting invited to parties and flirting with Ethan. Best of all, she has her BFF there to confide in. But just as quickly as Cara's life came together, it starts to unravel. A girl goes missing in her town, and everyone is a suspect—including Ethan. Worse still, Zoe starts behaving strangely, and Cara begins to wonder what exactly her friend does all day when she's at school. You're supposed to trust your best friend no matter what, but what if she turns into a total stranger?

This one has been on my wishlist for ages, and the release of the paperback gave me a push and made me finally get around to buying a copy. I hope I'll love it as much as everyone else did!

Shine by Lauren Myracle
(Amazon | Goodreads)

When her best guy friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover who in her small town did it. Richly atmospheric, this daring mystery mines the secrets of a tightly knit Southern community and examines the strength of will it takes to go against everyone you know in the name of justice.

I really liked the Internet Girls series by Lauren Myracle (even though it's been a while since I read them), and I'm excited to read another one of her books!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
(Amazon | Goodreads)

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister Primrose, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before — and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

*hides in corner* I know, not having read The Hunger Games means I should be exiled from the world of YA lovers, and I'm sorry! I don't know why, I just never got around to buying it, until now. I'll have to read it soon to experience its amazing-ness for myself.

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Review: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

2012-02-18T05:45:00.000-08:00

Title: Graffiti Moon
Author: Cath Crowley
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release date: February 14th 2012 (first published in Australia on August 1st 2010)
Pages: 264
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: NetGalley - thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for providing a free eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.
His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.
Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.
But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

First sentence:

I pedal fast.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

First off, I love the cover for Graffiti Moon - it's gorgeous! It fits the book perfectly, with the night lights and graffiti-like writing and everything. And it's just so cute!

I knew absolutely nothing about this book when I started it. I hadn't even read the description. So even though the "But the one thing Lucy can't see is the one thing that's right before her eyes" makes it obvious what's going on with Shadow, it wasn't obvious for me. The plot is great; a little slow in the middle, but other than that, it's interesting. The ideas of what happens to Lucy and Ed are crazy and hilarious and just so much fun.

This book is like a mixture of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (my review), and Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff (my review). The idea is similar to Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - a guy and a girl on a crazy adventure through the entire city for one night - and the characters Ed and Leo (especially Leo) could be street kids from Brooklyn, Burning. Graffiti Moon has Brooklyn, Burning's beautiful writing, too. And since I love both Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and Brooklyn, Burning, of course I loved Graffiti Moon, too!

The writing is what's best about Graffiti Moon. It's gorgeous, so vivid you can imagine everything perfectly. I even loved Poet's poetry. I rarely like when a book's characters write poetry in between chapters - the style either doesn't fit to the character's voice and is basically just the author's poetry, or it fits to the character but is, well, not good. The poems in Graffiti Moon, though, are amazing. Cath Crowley manages to make them authentic but also plain beautiful.

The descriptions of the graffiti are amazing. When I think graffiti, I think vandalism, just something sloppy and ugly sprayed on a wall to get attention or annoy the people who own that wall. But that's not the case at all in Graffiti Moon. The stuff Shadow and Poet do sounds amazing, and it's real art. I could imagine their pieces easily because of the descriptive and beautiful writing, and the pieces sound gorgeous. I wish my town had graffiti artists like Shadow and Poet.

The characters are great. All of them are different and unique, but you can understand and connect to each one of them. Lucy's insecurities and hopes are easy to relate to, and her quirkiness put a smile on my face. Even though Ed is extremely different from me and makes some stupid decisions, I didn't have any problems relating to him and feeling for him, either. The only thing I didn't get is why Ed agreed to go looking for Shadow in the first place. The relationship between Ed and Lucy is great - the way they interact is sweet and hilarious, very entertaining.

I loved the little sub-plots, the secondary characters Leo, Jazz, Daisy and Dylan. All of them are quirky and interesting to read about, and their relationships added a lot to the story. I liked the less important characters like Lucy's parents, Ed's mom, Al and Bert, too - all of them are fully-developed and unique characters.

Graffiti Moon is a surprisingly enjoyable read, considering I knew nothing about it beforehand. With vivid, atmospheric writing, quirky characters, and a hilarious plot, this story will have you laughing one minute and crying the next. Graffiti Moon is a beautiful portrayal of love, friendship, and finding yourself.

Bookish Anticipation #11

2012-02-17T10:26:00.000-08:00

Bookish Anticipation is a feature I do every once in a while to spotlight future releases I'm excited for. You can check out more Bookish Anticipation posts here.

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: June 14th 2012

The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, numerous, messy. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen year old Samantha wishes she was one of them… until the day Jase Garrett climbs her terrace and changes everything. Jase can sense that his beautiful neighbor is missing something in her sterile home, and as the two fall fiercely in love, his family makes her one of their own. But when the bottom drops out of Sam's world, which perfect family will save her–and will her perfect love survive?

The Thing About the Truth by Lauren Barnholdt
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: July 10th 2012

Kelsey’s not going to let one mistake ruin her life. Sure, she got kicked out of prep school and all her old friends are shutting her out. But Kelsey’s focused on her future, and she’s determined to get back on track at Concordia High. Isaac’s been kicked out of more schools than he can count. Since his father’s a state senator, Isaac’s life is under constant scrutiny—but Concordia High’s his last stop before boarding school, so Isaac’s hoping to fly under the radar and try to stay put for a change.
When Kelsey and Isaac meet, it’s anything but love at first sight. She thinks he’s an entitled brat, and he thinks she’s a stuck-up snob. So it surprises them both when they start to fall for each other. Kelsey’s happy for the first time in months, and Isaac’s never felt this way about anyone before….But nothing’s ever completely perfect. Everyone has secrets, and Isaac and Kelsey are no exceptions. These two may have fallen hard, but there’s one thing that can ruin it all: the truth.

Miracle by Elizabeth Scott
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: June 5th 2012

Megan is a miracle. At least, that’s what everyone says. Having survived a plane crash that killed everyone else on board, Megan knows she should be grateful just to be alive. The truth is, she doesn’t feel like a miracle. In fact, she doesn’t feel anything at all. Then memories from the crash start coming back. Scared and alone, Megan doesn’t know who to turn to. Her entire community seems unable—or maybe unwilling—to see her as anything but Miracle Megan. Except for Joe, the beautiful boy next door with a tragic past and secrets of his own... All Megan wants is for her life to get back to normal, but the harder she tries to live up to everyone’s expectations, the worse she feels. This time, she may be falling too fast to be saved…

Fall from Grace by Charles Benoit
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: May 8th 2012

Grace always has a plan. There’s her plan to get famous, her plan to get rich, and—above all—her plan to have fun. Sawyer has plenty of plans too. Plans made for him by his mother, his father, his girlfriend. Maybe they aren’t his plans, but they are plans.
When Sawyer meets Grace, he wonders if he should come up with a few plans himself. Plans about what he actually wants to be, plans to speak his own mind for a change, plans to maybe help Grace with a little art theft.
Wait a minute—plans to what?

One Moment by Kristina McBride
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: June 26th 2012

This was supposed to be the best summer of Maggie’s life. Now it's the one she'd do anything to forget. Maggie Reynolds remembers hanging out at the gorge with her closest friends after a blowout party the night before. She remembers climbing the trail hand in hand with her perfect boyfriend, Joey. She remembers that last kiss, soft, lingering, and meant to reassure her. So why can’t she remember what happened in the moment before they were supposed to dive? Why was she left cowering at the top of the cliff, while Joey floated in the water below – dead? As Maggie’s memories return in snatches, nothing seems to make sense. Why was Joey acting so strangely at the party? Where did he go after taking her home? And if Joey was keeping these secrets, what else was he hiding?

The Waiting Sky by Lara Zielin
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: August 2nd 2012

Seventeen-year-old Jane can’t quite face her mother’s alcoholism even though it sucks to spend all her time and energy keeping them afloat—making sure her mom gets to work, that the bills are paid when there’s money to pay them, and that no one knows her mom is so messed up. But when Jane’s mom drives drunk almost killing both them and Jane’s best friend, Jane can no longer deny her mom is spiraling out of control. Jane has only one place to turn: her older brother Ethan, who left years ago to go to college. A summer away with him and his tornado chasing buddies may just provide the time and space she needs to figure out whether her life still includes her mother.

Before You Go by James Preller
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: July 17th 2012

The summer before his senior year, Jude (yes, he’s named after the Beatles song) gets his first job, falls in love for the first time, and starts to break away from his parents. Jude’s house is kept dark; no one talks much—it’s been that way since his little sister drowned in a swimming pool when Jude was supposed to be watching her. He was watching her. He looked away for just a moment. He was only nine years old. And he’s never truly grieved for her, or for the emotional deaths of his parents, who refuse to talk about what happened. Seven years later, Jude is finally, finally starting to live. Really live. And then life spins out of control. Again. Acclaimed author James Preller explores life, death, love, faith, and resilience in a story that will grip readers from the book’s dramatic first few pages to its emotional end

Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: July 10th 2012

Kendra has always felt overshadowed by her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD forces him to live a life of carefully coordinated routines. The only way Kendra can stand out next to Grayson is to be perfect, and she has perfection down to an art -- until a cheating scandal threatens her flawless reputation. Behind the wheel of her car, with Grayson asleep beside her, Kendra decides to drive away from it all -- with enough distance, maybe she'll be able to figure everything out. But eventually, Kendra must stop running and come to terms with herself, her brother, and her past. With undeniable grace and humor, acclaimed author Jennifer Brown explores OCD, the pressure for perfection, and the emotional highs and lows of a complex sibling relationship.

When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: May 1st 2012

"What's in a name, Shakespeare? I'll tell you: everything."Rosaline knows that she and Rob are destined to be together. Rose has been waiting for years for Rob to kiss her--and when he finally does, it's perfect. But then Juliet moves back to town. Juliet, who used to be Rose's best friend. Juliet, who now inexplicably hates her. Juliet, who is gorgeous, vindictive, and a little bit crazy...and who has set her sights on Rob. He doesn't even stand a chance.
Rose is devastated over losing Rob to Juliet. This is not how the story was supposed to go. And when rumors start swirling about Juliet's instability, her neediness, and her threats of suicide, Rose starts to fear not only for Rob's heart, but also for his life. Because Shakespeare may have gotten the story wrong, but we all still know how it ends.

Review: The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hirandani

2012-02-16T04:06:00.000-08:00

Title: The Whole Story of Half a Girl
Author: Veera Hirandani
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Release date: January 10th 2012
Pages: 224
Genre: MG; contemporary
Source: NetGalley - thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

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.

First sentence:

I'm in school, sitting with my hair hanging long down my back of my chair, my arm around my best friend, Sam.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

When I requested The Whole Story of Half a Girl on NetGalley, I thought it was YA. After reading a few pages, though, it was obvious that this is MG. Sonia is in the 6th grade, and honestly, that made me want to stop reading The Whole Story of Half a Girl - I thought the MC and the story would be too immature and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the book. But since it's such a quick read, I kept reading. And while the novel isn't perfect, and I'm definitely too old for it, it did end up being an enjoyable read.

Despite my wariness of reading from a sixth-grader's point-of-view, I ended up really liking Sonia. She's easy to relate to, despite our age difference, and I really liked how her innocent, young view of life affected her way of seeing and describing things.

I liked reading about the family dynamics, the little sister and her realistic relationship to Sonia, and the father's issues are handled well. I also liked reading about the differences in Sonia's and Kate's families.

The subtlety in The Whole Story of Half a Girl is great. That's one of the things I really liked about the - admittedly few - MGs I've read; they're more subtle than a lot of YA books. It's a great example of showing instead of telling, and that made me really like the characters - Kate, Sam, and the rest of Sonia's characters are all fully-developed characters.

The way the racial issues are handled, however, is only okay, in my opinion. It's too big a deal how everyone at school asks whether Sonia is black or white - honestly, what's the big deal? Have they never seen someone Indian before? The same goes for religion - everyone thinks it's weird that Sonia is Jewish, too, but I didn't get that either - do kids really care whether their peers are Jewish, Christian, or anything else? The focus on those issues at school is too extreme, in my opinion. How Sonia handles those issues, though, I liked - her problems with her identity are relatable and described well.

The Whole Story of Half a Girl is a great coming-of-age story, and a lot of aspects are really well-written, but still, I couldn't enjoy it too much, simply because I'm too old for this kind of book. I recommend it for a younger audience, though - I can see this being an amazing book for someone around Sonia's age.

Top Ten Tuesday #5: Books That Broke My Heart

2012-02-14T03:12:00.000-08:00

1. Hold Still by Nina LaCour

The emotion in Hold Still is incredibly raw. There's no holding back, and that really made me feel both Caitlin's grief and Ingrid's hopelessness.

2. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

This is the kind of book where you're just crying the entire time. And that ending - I must have cried for half an hour after finishing My Sister's Keeper. It's just so sad and beautiful!

3. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

This book almost killed me. It's incredible how the author manages to make me want Lochan and Maya to end up together, despite the fact that incest is so widely seen as wrong. I bawled while reading the ending. Such a powerful book!

4. The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Unlike the last two, The Sky Is Everywhere doesn't have an ending that broke my heart; in this one, every single word broke my heart. Lennie's grief is so real, you can't help but feel it too.

5. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

The atmosphere in Sweethearts is so well-done. Even though the plot isn't the saddest one I've read, the writing makes this one a really emotional read. That counts for Story of a Girl and Once Was Lost, too, but I decided to go with Sweethearts because I liked it a little better than the other two Sara Zarr books I've read.

6. Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks (or any other Nicholas Sparks book)

Nicholas Sparks's books are pure evil. They break my heart every time. I don't think he knows how to write a happy ending - someone always dies. The ending of Message in a Bottle is especially heartbreaking.

7. Dear Bully

What makes this book so sad is that every single story is true. Thinking about how real people had to go through all of this makes Dear Bully one of the most emotional books I've ever read.

8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This book broke my heart over and over and over again. What Charlie has to go through is terrible, and his feelings are so real.

9. Positively by Courtey Sheinmel

The whole story of Positively is heartbreaking and beautiful - a twelve-year-old girl whose mother died of AIDS and who's struggling with HIV herself. The strong, innocent MC makes this a tragic but hopeful novel.

10. Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles

The story of Jumping Off Swings isn't all that heartbreaking - just another teenage pregnancy - but the writing... wow. One of the saddest, most beautiful atmospheres I've ever read.

So these are the top ten books that broke my heart. If you've read them too, what did you think? What are the top ten books that broke your heart?

Review: Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

2012-02-13T05:47:00.000-08:00

Title: Safe Haven
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Publisher: Sphere
Release date: September 2nd 2010
Pages: 352
Genre: Romance
Source: Bought
FInd out more: Goodreads | Amazon

Goodreads description:

When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family. But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.

First sentence:

As Katie wound her way among the tables, a breeze from the Atlantic rippled through her hair.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I love Nicholas Sparks. Yes, the stories are cheesy and unrealistic, but... well, there is no real but, I just love them - the romance, the heartbreak, everything. Every once in a while, I need to read a cheesy love story, and Nicholas Sparks' books are perfect for that. And Safe Haven is no exception.

The characters in Safe Haven are great. Characters in adult books are generally harder for me to relate to than YA characters, just because YA is a lot closer to my own life. But even though Katie and Alex are twice as old as me, I had no trouble connecting to them. Alex is such a good guy, and I felt his grief. The way he takes care of his kids is so sweet, and the family's loss made me cry several times. Katie's a great character, too - I don't want to say too much about her in order not to spoil her secret, but she's been through a lot. Her fears are understandable, and you can't help but feel for her.

I don't know what to say about the relationship between Katie and Alex. Technically, it's too insta-love-y (there should be an actual word for that, by the way) - the attraction in the beginning is too obvious and unrealistic, and they develop too extreme emotions too quickly. But really, I didn't care - they're so cute together! It's like that in almost all of Nicholas Sparks' novels - the MCs develop unrealistically deep emotions for one another in too short a time - but I never seem to mind. The relationships are cheesy, but really, that's just the way his books are. You always know you're in for a good but cheesy romance when you open a Nicholas Sparks book.

One thing I always love about Nicholas Sparks' books is the small-town life. The books almost always take place in some small town on the coast of North Carolina, and the atmospheres are always so peaceful. His books always make me want to move to a small town near the beach.

The suspense in Safe Haven is really well-done. I don't want to say too much about Katie's "secret that still haunts and terrifies her" in order not to spoil it for anyone, but it really is terrifying at times. The suspense and danger of that storyline keep you flipping the pages, and the romance and suspense blend together really well. Still, I would have liked a stronger message concerning Katie's issue - I think, because of Alex's background, he could have easily given the reader some more information on how to handle something like that.

Safe Haven is a classic Nicholas Sparks book - a good but clichéd love story with some suspense thrown in there. No, they're not the most intellectually challenging books out there, but what girl doesn't want to read a cheesy love story every once in a while? Safe Haven isn't my favorite Nicholas Sparks book, but it's an enjoyable read.

In My Mailbox #45

2012-02-12T05:47:00.000-08:00

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where you can talk about the books you bought or received this week.

NetGalley/from publisher:

This Is Not a Test by Courtney Summers
(Amazon | Goodreads)

It’s the end of the world. Six students have taken cover in Cortege High but shelter is little comfort when the dead outside won’t stop pounding on the doors. One bite is all it takes to kill a person and bring them back as a monstrous version of their former self. To Sloane Price, that doesn’t sound so bad. Six months ago, her world collapsed and since then, she’s failed to find a reason to keep going. Now seems like the perfect time to give up. As Sloane eagerly waits for the barricades to fall, she’s forced to witness the apocalypse through the eyes of five people who actually want to live. But as the days crawl by, the motivations for survival change in startling ways and soon the group’s fate is determined less and less by what’s happening outside and more and more by the unpredictable and violent bids for life—and death—inside. When everything is gone, what do you hold on to?

I love Courtney Summers, so I'm really excited to read her newest novel! I hope I'll like it even though it's not contemps...

Bought:

In Too Deep by Amanda Grace
(Amazon | Goodreads)

I never meant for anyone to get hurt. All I wanted to do that night was make a play for Carter Wellesley. His heartless rejection was mortifying, but people got the wrong idea when they saw me leaving his bedroom, crying. That’s how rumors of rape started.
Now girls at school are pouring out their sympathy to me. Guys too. But not everyone’s on my side. The school has become a war zone and the threats are getting scary. What began as poetic justice has morphed into something bigger—forcing me to make a terrible choice.

I loved Amanda Grace's But I Love Him, and In Too Deep sounds just as amazing!

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers. In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl's struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone--especially yourself--you fight for it.

I know, I'm the last person on earth to read The Mockingbirds. Everyone has said it's amazing, so I'm sure I'll love it too!

I also got some awesome swag for Holly Cupala's Don't Breathe a Word - I'll include some of that in a giveaway soon!

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Review: Loving Emily by Anne Pfeffer

2012-02-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

Title: Loving Emily
Author: Anne Pfeffer
Publisher: Bold Print Press
Pages: 276
Release date: November 17th 2011
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: Received a finished copy from the author in exchange for an honest review - thank you, Anne!
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

Ryan Mills is torn with guilt over the death of his best friend, and it's all because of Emily Weintraub. If Ryan hadn't seen those incredible gray-blue eyes, hadn't pegged her as a Potentially Amazing Woman, he would never have gone looking for her at the party that night. He would have never left his wasted friend Michael alone, when Michael needed him and asked him to stay. And if Ryan hadn't left, Michael would never have driven off, totaled his car, and taken the cosmic ride into death.

As far as Ryan's concerned, when you've done something terrible, you don't deserve to be happy. He tries not to fall for Emily, but he can't help it. Before long, he is "completely, gonzo, out-of-control in love."

Ryan then learns that Michael died with a secret. Still grieving, he feels compelled to take on his friend's unfinished business. When Emily begins to question where his commitments really lie - with her or with Michael's memory - Ryan is forced to examine his choices. What does he owe to Michael, to Emily, and to himself?

First sentence:

Any other night, I'd be down for driving my best friend Michael to the party, but tonight is different.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

To say I had low expectations for Loving Emily is an understatement - the melodramatic cover with the creepy guy in the back; the too-long description; everything about this book screams small publishing - you know, not enough editing, too many typos, etc. And while it's far from perfect, I ended up really, really enjoying Loving Emily!

Honestly, I think the cover, title, and description are kind of misleading. They make it seem like the main storyline is the romance between Ryan and Emily. But for me, that's not the most important part at all - it's a coming-of-age story, it's about family, it's about grief, and yes, it's about love. But I don't like how the title and cover let you believe it's just romance.

Ryan is a good character. He's easy to relate to and a really sweet guy. He's always trying to do the right thing, and you can't help but feel for him and want the best for him. There are a few scenes, though, where the male point-of-view is a little unrealistic, in my opinion. Yes, it's LA, so maybe it's different, but I still thought the descriptions of appearance were a little strange - I don't think it's realistic for a guy to notice what color shoes people are wearing. But then again, what do I know about being a guy?

The family's situation is a storyline I really enjoyed reading about. Ryan's dad is a famous director, so he and Ryan's mom are almost never home, and Ryan has two adorable younger sisters. I really liked reading about how the situation affected Ryan and how it developed throughout the novel.

I also liked the grief-storyline. Ryan and Michael's friendship is portrayed realistically and relatably, and Michael's grief is heart-felt and honest.

The romance is the only storyline I had a problem with - maybe it's because the romance is the storyline I enjoyed the least that I mind how the cover, title and description focus on that. Anyways, the romance is a little too insta-love for me, and I think it's unrealistic how quickly the two develop such strong feelings for one another. Emily's character fell flat for me, and I feel like the reader never really got to know her. Yes, she has some interests and character traits, but her portrayal is too superficial, in my opinion. Since I never really got her as a character, I had a hard time relating to Ryan's and her relationship.

I also don't get why, in the beginning, Ryan wants to keep himself from falling for Emily. He says abandoning Michael when needing him gave him bad karma, so he needs to do a lot of good to make up for that, which makes sense, but somehow, he thinks he can't be with Emily because it would mean getting even more bad karma. I'm no expert on karma, but... why would falling in love be bad karma?

My favorite storyline is one I can't talk about without spoiling the book - I really liked reading about Michael's secret, the "unfinished business." The storyline and the relationship that comes from this secret seemed a lot deeper and more realistic than Ryan's relationship with Emily, if I'm being honest.

But none of those storylines is what I liked best about Loving Emily - it's the coming-of-age and Ryan's character growth. I loved reading about how he grows as a person and figured out who he is.

I can't justify giving Loving Emily more than three stars because I did have some problems with it - it could have used some more editing and copyediting, the whole story is a little-drawn out, so it got boring in places (it's only 276 pages, but the font is really small compared to most YA books, so it's actually pretty long), and I didn't like the romance. But still, I really enjoyed Loving Emily, a lot more than I thought I would. A good protagonist and a nice cast of secondary characters and an interesting plot make this a great coming-of-age story. This is the kind of book that makes me happy to be a book-blogger - it's great to know I can promote a good book people probably haven't heard much about.

Author Interview with Melissa Jensen (The Fine Art of Truth or Dare)

2012-02-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

Today we have Melissa Jensen here for an interview! Her debut, The Fine Art of Truth or Dare, is coming out on February 16th.

1. I read you love throwing dinner parties. If you were to throw one exclusively for YA authors, whom would you invite?

Sherman Alexie. He's not exclusively YA, but True Diary is one of my fave books and I think he's a little bit brilliant in general. Sara Zarr, for having one of the most appealing and compelling voices out there. Libba Bray, who is patently smart and a little snarky and quirky, all at the same time. John Green, who is the fab voice of fab geeky kids everywhere. Chris Crutcher, for being the very best with Big Messages. And...tough one...maybe Maureen Johnson, who just seems like someone who would complete a dinner party brilliantly and a little oddly.

2. What was your favorite scene to write in The Fine Art of Truth or Dare?

Alex takes Ella to a pretty unusual spot to face some of her fears. I can't be more specific without giving more away than I want to, but "Jaws" figures in. And I loved writing any scene involving Daniel Hobbes. He's a bit player, but a big presence. I have a little crush on Daniel Hobbes.

3. Inspired by the title of your book, what's one interesting experience you've had with the game of truth or dare, either really good or really bad?

One summer, I was working as a camp counselor, and anyone who's had any sort of camp experience knows ToD is a staple. So, when it was...well, I would have to call her a frenemy's...turn to challenge me, I went for dare. She was way too good at asking questions guaranteed to humiliate you into adulthood. Her dare: Whisper something I didn't want anyone to know about me into the ear of the boy counselor I had a serious crush on. She knew; he didn't. No way I'm gonna share what I told him, but I will say that we ended up dating more-or-less happily for the rest of the summer. As for the frenemy, last I heard, she was running a Fortune 500 company.

4. I've read both of your parents are artists - how did that inspire you to write about art in The Fine Art of Truth or Dare?

My father used to take me to the de Young museum in San Francisco every few weekends. In that macabre small-child way, I think I really wanted to see the mummy and Ancient Egyptian stuff, but eventually other things--most notably the Post-Impressionists--made their impression and made me conversant. My mother always encouraged us to follow our passions, artistic or not (only one of us showed much artistic talent--wasn't me), and didn't complain about seriously messy craft projects, even when we accidentally glued tissue paper, pipe cleaners, or ourselves to the furniture.

5. Ella's idol is the 19th-century painter Edward Willing. Why did you chose him as Ella's favorite artist?

I wanted to create a talented but second-tier painter with strong ties to Philadelphia and a story that could complement Ella's. Edward's art is actually less important than his life, but it's a good backdrop for that life. I was also able to connect him to other interesting people of the time like Cezanne and Edith Wharton, which is one of those great perks of writing fiction. I use real people. Best to use people who can't object, of course. The one time I tried to put a local politician in a gorilla suit, it ended badly...

6. I read one of your favorite books is Pride and Prejudice. How did it influence and inspire you?

I think P&P is a virtually perfect novel. Austen is the absolute unequaled master of clever-snarky-romantic, an irresistible combo for me. I think it was my adoration of her writing (books and letters) that put me on my writing path. I write hearts-and-flowers because I love a good love story, but I want mine to be a little deeper than just boy-meets-girl, and I want them to have a balance of clever-snarky-romantic that, while only a pale shadow of Austen's, is clearly mine.

7. If you could pair your main character Ella up with any character from any book, who would it be and why?

Neville Longbottom. Each time I ponder this question, I debate pairing her with a literary artist (Stephen Deadalus, Philip Carey...), but they're so heavy. Neville remains one of my fave teenage book boys. He would bring really cool flowers, listen when you talk, and put himself between you and an attacking Death Eater without a second thought.

8. Which is easier for you to write, dialogue or description?

Dialogue. Dialogue dialogue dialogue. Ask anyone who knows me. I'm a talker (with occasional tendencies toward insufferable-know-it-all-ism). Giving my characters' words lets me talk even more without actually opening my mouth.

Thanks for the great interview answers, Melissa!

Keep your eye out for The Fine Art of Truth or Dare, which will be released on February 16th!

The Fine Art of Truth and Dare by Melissa Jensen
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Review: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

2012-02-08T06:55:00.000-08:00

Title: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
Authors: Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages: 272
Release date: October 26th 2010
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

“I’ve left some clues for you. If you want them... turn the page. If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”
Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a shelf in her favourite bookshop, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept them. But is Dash that right guy? Could their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions? Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions?
From the authors of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist comes a warm and funny story that will leave you perusing bookshop shelves, looking for a red notebook of your own.

First sentence:

Imagine this: You're standing in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Every year I need to read one Christmas-y book to get into a Christmas-y mood. And since I loved Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's first collaboration, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (review), and the cover of this one is adorable, I thought I'd give it a shot. And it definitely worked - Dash & Lily's Book of Dares is the perfect book for the holidays!

I love the whole idea for this book. The idea of the notebook is adorable, and I love how it got them into such random, crazy, hilarious situations that are so much fun to read about. Yes, it's cheesy and not all that realistic, but the whole story is just so adorable. I also loved how bookish this book is. (And yes, I do realize how stupid that sounds.) All the bookish references are all really interesting to read about.

I have to say, though, I like the notebook part better than the part where the actual Dash and Lily meet, just because I think their notebook-versions have better chemistry. They're still cute together, but they're not all that special without the notebook-storyline. Some parts towards the end are kind of slow, and I was disappointed by the ending.

The characters are what make this book work. I loved Lily - she's easy to relate to, shy and awkward but totally lovable. Dash's a great character too, so smart and sweet and amazing... A little too amazing, even - I can't imagine anyone as perfect as Dash actually existing. Nevertheless, they're both quirky characters with honest and entertaining voices. The secondary characters are great, too - it's hilarious to read about how their entire extended families helped them, and Boomer is just plain awesome.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares made me want to go to New York so bad - I wanted to check out all of the places the two of them visited, the Strand and Max Brenner, especially. Max Brenner sounds so cool - they have chocolate syringes! I googled Max Brenner and they really do sell chocolate syringes! Getting off topic here, but I so need to go there.

Anyways, back on topic... Another thing I appreciated about Dash & Lily's Book of Dares is that there isn't as much swearing in this one as there is in Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. The use of swear words is really overdone in Nick & Norah, in my opinion, and I'm glad it isn't like that in Dash & Lily.

One complaint I have, though, is the structure. The chapters are pretty long, and it goes back and forth between Dash and Lily's points of view. And since the chapters are longer, it'd sometimes be one day in this chapter and be the day before that in the next one, which got kind of confusing in parts.

Despite the problems I had with the structure and some slow parts towards the end, I definitely recommend it - Dash & Lily's Book of Dares is an adorably bookish romance that will warm your heart in the cold winter time!

Don't Breathe a Word Trailer Launch & Giveaway

2012-02-07T10:11:00.000-08:00

Trailer launch

Today is the trailer launch for Holly's Cupala recent release, Don't Breathe a Word! So let's take a look at the trailer:

Wow, isn't that trailer amazing? I've read Don't Breathe a Word (loved it!), and that trailer fits perfectly. What do you think?

Giveaway

Holly also has an awesome giveaway for you!

Five first-prize winners will get signed copies of Don't Breathe a Word and Tell Me a Secret, the Tell Me a Secret special edition audiobook, as well as bookmarks, stickers, and other swag!

Ten second-prize winners will get Don't Breathe a Word flyers, booksmarks, stickers and a Tell Me a Secret button!

Plus the first forty people who buy the book at this link between now and Valentine’s Day get Don't Breathe a Word bookmarks and stickers from Holly!

All prizes are US addresses only.

How to enter:

1. Click here to go to the DBAW trailer link, then click the Share button to send to your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, MySpace, blog, or other social network. 5 entries each!

2. Click here to tell us where you posted and enter to win!

3. Buy the book at this link for more chances to win!

Good luck!

Top Ten Tuesday #4: Books I'd Give to Someone Who Says They Don't Read

2012-02-07T05:27:00.000-08:00

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish with a different topic for a top-ten list each week. You can find out more about it here.

The links will take you to my reviews (if available).

This week's topic is:

Top Ten Books I'd Give to Someone Who Says They Don't Read

1. Ttyl by Lauren Myracle

This series is written entirely in IM messages between three best friends, and I think a format like that would work well for someone who doesn't read much.

2. The Harry Potter series

Because nobody can dislike Harry Potter.

3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Diary is a quick and entertaining read, especially because of the illustrations. These illustrations and the fact that it reads so quickly hold your attention, even if you don't usually read a lot.

4. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

This one is on this list simply because of shock value. What happens in Living Dead Girl is so horriying, I can't see anyone putting this book down.

4. And Then Things Fall Apart by Arlaina Tibensky

And Then Things Fall Apart doesn't even read like a novel - it's like your inside of your best friend's head. And who wouldn't want to listen to their best friend tell them something from their life?

5. Size Twelve Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot (or any other Meg Cabot book)

Meg Cabot's style is hilarious and entertaining - it has everyone laughing out loud.

6. All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab

I think mysteries in general are a good genre for people who don't read much - wanting to find out who did it will keep you turning the pages. For some reason, I don't read too many mysteries myself, but All Unquiet Things has a really good mystery storyline.

7. Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

I can't really explain why I think this would be good for someone who doesn't read much; I just do. It's so much fun to read.

8. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Another simply hilarious book - I couldn't stop laughing while reading Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and I think this this the perfect book to prove that reading can be entertaining.

9. dancergirl by Carol M Tanzman

Also a good mystery that keeps you turning the pages.

10. Twilight by Stephanie Meyers

I thought about not putting this on the list, because, well, Twilight, but you can't argue with the fact that it has gotten loads of people reading!

So these are some books I'd recommend to someone who doesn't read a lot - not all of them are the most meaningful, but they're all entertaining and hold your interest, which I think is most important when persuading a reluctant reader. What books would you recommend?

Book Blogger Confessions #2

2012-02-06T05:38:00.000-08:00

Book Blogger Confessions is a new meme hosted by All-Consuming Books and For What It's Worth. You can find out all about it here.

Every second week there is one topic that has something to do with book-blogging that you can discuss on your blog.

This week's topic is:

Deadlines for reviewing and blogging. Do you set them? How do you keep them? What do you do if you can't meet a deadline?

When I first started blogging, I immediately started out with a schedule. I posted a review every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and on the rest of the days I posted memes (Waiting on Wednesday, Follow Friday, On My Wishlist and In My Mailbox). I tried to post every single day, and I wanted to have three book reviews up every week. That didn't always work - I just don't read three books every week. I was going crazy, saying "I have to finish this book and review it today or I won't have anything to post!" and putting that above whatever else I had going on that day.

I didn't last very long. Blogging got too stressful for me to enjoy it anymore, so I had to change something. I decided to stop doing memes other than IMM on a regular basis, and I decided to only post two reviews per week. They didn't have to be on a set day; I'd just post them when I finished the book. I had almost no schedule.

Even though I'm still not doing many memes (I still do IMM, and started doing Top Ten Tuesday and this meme, but I don't make myself take part every week), my blogging schedule has gotten fuller again. I now take part in lots of blog tours, where the posts are always scheduled for a certain day, and I do some features like New Releases, Bookish Anticipation, etc. every once in a while. I still post two reviews per week.

Now I'm posting almost as much as I did when I first started, but it isn't as stressful because I write my posts long before I actually post them. I don't spend the same amount of time blogging every week - sometimes I have lots of free time, and sometimes I don't. That's just the way it is. But I balance the varying amount of time spent blogging by writing my posts early. No matter how much I read in a week, I post two reviews. So if I have a lot of time one week and read five books (that doesn't happen often, but sometimes it does), I schedule those reviews for later. I have reviews scheduled up until the end of March - so if I don't read anything one week, it's not a problem.

That was working out fine... until I joined NetGalley. I live in Germany, so I don't really get many review copies, but I do get books for review on NetGalley. When I first joined, I was so excited to see all those great books that I requested way more than I could ever read on time. When you read a NetGalley book it's different from reading a book you bought or borrowed from the library because there's a certain time in which you're supposed to review the book. And when you request as many books as I did when I first joined NetGalley, that just isn't possible.

Now I restrain myself every time a new title shows up on NetGalley and ask myself - if I were at a bookstore and saw this book, would I buy it? I only request books for which the answer to that question is yes. Still, sometimes those books with "expiration dates" can be stressful. I use the same method of trying to read and review early - when I have the time, I read a NetGalley book that will be released in two months so that I can have a review written already and don't need to stress myself close to the release date. But that doesn't always work, and I feel so bad when I don't have a review up in time for the release date. I'm hoping to improve in that aspect.

Sometimes I curse my schedule, but really, I don't know what I'd do without it. I like that I'm so far ahead and don't need to stress about not having read anything for a week. I still need to get a hang on reviewing NetGalley books on time, but other than that, I'm handling my blogging schedule pretty well, and I don't feel as stressed out as blogging anymore as I did before.

So that's how I deal with blogging schedules and deadlines - what about you?

In My Mailbox #44

2012-02-05T01:16:00.000-08:00

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren where you can talk about the books you bought or received this week.

GalleyGrab:

Being Friends with Boys by Terra Elan McVoy
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Charlotte and Oliver have been friends forever. She knows that he, Abe, and Trip consider her to be one of the guys, and she likes it that way. She likes being the friend who keeps them all together. Likes offering a girl's perspective on their love lives. Likes being the behind-the-scenes wordsmith who writes all the lyrics for the boys' band. Char has a house full of stepsisters and a past full of backstabbing (female) ex-best friends, so for her, being friends with boys is refreshingly drama-free...until it isn't any more.
When a new boy enters the scene and makes Char feel like, well, a total girl...and two of her other friends have a falling out that may or may not be related to one of them deciding he possibly wants to be more than friends with Char...being friends with all these boys suddenly becomes a lot more complicated.

I love reading about boy-girl friendships - there definitely aren't enough of them in contemporary YA! Being Friends With Boys sounds great, and I've heard a lot of good things about the author.

NetGalley:

Ferocity Summer by Alissa Grosso
(Amazon | Goodreads)

It’s the hottest summer on record in New Jersey and soon Scilla Davis must stand trial for her involvement in a deadly speedboat accident. With the possibility of conviction looming, life seems empty, unreal, and utterly hopeless. Watching her best friend Willow destroy herself with drugs and booze is especially painful. Yet Scilla can’t manage to wrest Willow—or herself—from a path of self-destruction.
With a new drug called Ferocity sweeping the nation, an FBI agent is eager to make a bust. He offers Scilla a way out of this nightmare. But is she willing to betray her own drugdealing boyfriend?

Ferocity Summer sounds amazing, right up my alley!

See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. It seems as though everyone in her family has better things to do than pay attention to her: Mom (when she's not meditating) helps Dad run the family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high school; and Holden pretends that Mom and Dad and everyone else doesn't know he's gay, even as he fends off bullies at school. Then there's Charlie: three years old, a "surprise" baby, the center of everyone's world. He's devoted to Fern, but he's annoying, too, always getting his way, always dirty, always commanding attention. If it wasn't for Ran, Fern's calm and positive best friend, there'd be nowhere to turn. Ran's mantra, "All will be well," is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe it's true. But then tragedy strikes- and Fern feels not only more alone than ever, but also responsible for the accident that has wrenched her family apart. All will not be well. Or at least all will never be the same.

I love Jo Knowles, so I'm sure I'll enjoy this one, even though it sounds more like MG than YA.

What did you get this week?

Review: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

2012-02-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

Title: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Author: Sherman Alexie
Publisher: Little, Brown for Young Readers
Release date: September 12th 2007
Pages: 230
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

With his first foray into teen literature, acclaimed author Sherman Alexie packs a punch in this absorbing novel about a Native American boy searching for a brighter future. At once humorous and stirring, Alexie's novel follows Junior, a resident of the Spokane reservation who transfers out of the reservation's school -- and into a nearby rich, all-white farm school -- in order to nurture his desire to become a cartoonist. Junior encounters resistance there, a backlash at home, and numerous family problems -- all the while relaying his thoughts and feelings via amusing descriptions and drawings.
Having already garnered a National Book Award for Young Adult Literature, this moving look at race and growing up is definitely one to pick up.

First sentence:

I was born with water on the brain.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I was wary of reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - it sounded so serious, so issue-focused, so intellectually demanding. I thought I'd read it since it's one of the most famous YA books ever, but I didn't think I would really enjoy it. But I couldn't have been more wrong - Diary is such a fun read!

Junior's voice is incredible; so, so real. I don't often like the younger side of YA - it's harder for me to relate to fourteen-year-old MC - but that isn't a problem at all in Diary. His young age makes the way he talks about his life on the reservation so much more honest and realistic. Junior is a strong character - he's easy to relate to, even though his life is totally different from mine, and I have to say, I admired how brave he is to transfer to the all-white school. His way of talking and thinking is hilarious - I was laughing out loud throughout the book.

But despite the light and funny tone, Diary addresses some dark topics. There's no preaching, no too strong message; all of the issues addressed are just a part of Junior's everyday life. That makes you feel for Junior even more.

All the subplots and secondary characters add a lot to the story, too - it's interesting to read about each of their lives and different problems, especially from an insider's point-of-view.

I even liked the illustrations. I'm not usually a fan of pictures in books or comics, but in Diary, they work - they help you get to know Junior and his world even better.

There are so many more amazing things about The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, but really, none of the little things are what make this book so special. It's just a great story of self-discovery, hilarious and tragic at the same time, and I definitely recommend it, if you haven't read it already.

This or That with Amanda Grace (In Too Deep Blog Tour)

2012-02-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

Today we have Amanda Grace/Mandy Hubbard here for a This or That interview! This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for In Too Deep by Amanda Grace. You can find out more about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops of the blog tour if you'd like to know more about In Too Deep!

Summer or winter?

I actually just love the whole changing-of-seasons. I would never want eternal summer or eternal winter, because it’s the transitions I love! That first spring day where you can bust out the shorts! That first Autumn morning where you can see your breath!

Vanilla or chocolate?

Chocolate.

Day or night?

Night.

Coffee or tea?

Tea.

Movies or TV shows?

Movies! I am seriously dying for my 4 year old to get a little bit older so we can go see a bunch of silly teen chick-flicks together.

Outdoors or indoors?

Indoors.

Hardcover, paperback or e-book?

Paperback

Reading or writing?

Writing.

YA or adult fiction? (for reading, not writing)

YA!

Typing on the computer or traditional writing on paper?

Typing. I ABHOR hand-writing. I actually would probably stop writing all together before I wrote on paper.

The fun fiction you write as Mandy Hubbard or the darker stuff you write as Amanda Grace? (as in, what do you like writing more)

Writing the Mandy Hubbard books comes much easier to me. I think my forte is just the commercial, plot-heavy books. The quieter, character-driven stuff is really quite hard to write. But I’m always proud of what I’ve done, in the end!

Superpower: Being invisible or being able to fly?

Ooooh. I think Fly. I hate traffic, and after wrecking a few cars in my teens, driving sometimes gives me anxiety.

Being in a crowd or being alone?

If it’s a crowd of writers or agents, I feel SO excited and happy and at home. But crowds in general—I’d rather be alone.

Being able to change the past or living with your mistakes?

Living with mistakes.

Thanks for the great interview answers, Mandy!

Make sure to check out all the other posts in this tour, and keep your eye out for In Too Deep, which will be released on February 8th.

In Too Deep by Amanda Grace
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Review: The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski

2012-02-02T07:03:00.000-08:00

Title: The Sweetest Thing
Author: Christina Mandelski
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release date: May 10th 2011
Pages: 352
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: NetGalley - thank you to Egmont USA and NetGalley for providing a free eGalley of this book!
More info: Amazon | Goodreads

Goodreads description:

In the world of Sheridan Wells, life is perfect when she's decorating a cake. Unfortunately everything else is a complete mess: her mom ran off years ago, her dad is more interested in his restaurant, and the idea of a boyfriend is laughable.
But Sheridan is convinced finding her mom will solve all her problems - only her dad's about to get a cooking show in New York, which means her dream of a perfect family will be dashed.
Using just the right amount of romance, family drama, and cute boys, The Sweetest Thing will entice fans with its perfect mixture of girl-friendly ingredients.

My rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Let me start with the positive: I love the cover of The Sweetest Thing! It's so sweet and I always like when covers show something that plays an important part in the actual book. The part about Sheridan decorating cakes I really liked, too - all the references to her decorating, her grandmother's baking and her father's cooking tie in well with the rest of the story. That, and it all just sounds so delicious - I was basically hungry the entire time while reading this.

But... That's where the positive ends. The rest of the book just didn't work for me. Let me start with the main character, Sheridan. She annoyed me to no end. Her mom left her dad and her a long time ago, wrote her birthday cards for a few years, and now even those have stopped. But Sheridan still hopes her mom will come back, thinking she'll come if she asks her, so she does everything possible to find out where she is. I got really frustrated by how she still couldn't accept that her mother doesn't want to come back, and it annoyed me to no end how she got mad at everyone who tried to tell her so. There are other, smaller things that annoyed me about her, too - she's just so immature and bratty. I could not connect to her at all.

The plot didn't work for me, either - every storyline is clichéd and predictable! I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but everyone knows how the classic love triangle between the popular guy and the best friend ends, and it was obvious from the start what would happen to the family-situation. I don't always have a problem with predictable storylines, but since every storyline in The Sweetest Thing is like that, the plot and its lack of twists bored me.

The secondary characters are equally clichéd and underdeveloped - there's not much to any of them, nothing that would make any of them memorable - even though it's normally pretty easy to get me to love the best-friend-turning-into-something-more type.

One thing I did like is the small-town setting. The atmosphere is really well-done, and I could easily see what Sheridan's life in St. Mary is like.

I don't have much more to say about The Sweetest Thing - just a bland, predictable read and a main character I couldn't relate to, with the exception of the baking theme, which I really liked.

New Releases February 2012

2012-02-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

New releases:

The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: February 1st 2012

The Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area stretches across two million acres in northern Idaho. In its heart sits the Alice Marshall School, where fifty teenage girls come to escape their histories and themselves.Lida Wallace has tried to negate herself in every way possible. At Alice Marshall, she meets Elsa Boone, a fierce native Idahoan; Jules, who seems too healthy to belong at the school; and Gia Longchamps, whose glamour entrances the entire camp. As the girls prepare for a wilderness trek, Lida is both thrilled and terrified to be chosen as Gia's friend. But everyone has their secrets--their "Things" they try to protect; and when those come out, the knives do as well.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: February 7th 2012

When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief she’ll never have to tell them that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl. But that relief soon turns to heartbreak, as Cam is forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and not making waves, and Cam becomes an expert at this—especially at avoiding any questions about her sexuality. Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. To Cam’s surprise, she and Coley become best friends—while Cam secretly dreams of something more. Just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, her secret is exposed. Ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self—even if she’s not quite sure who that is.

In Too Deep by Amanda Grace
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: February 8th 2012

Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: February 14th 2012

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: February 14th 2012

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: February 16th 2012

Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev’s band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she’s abandoning their plans—and Colby—to start college in the fall.
But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie-Colby struggles to deal with Bev’s already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what’s next?

The Fine Art of Truth and Dare by Melissa Jensen
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: February 16th 2012

Trafficked by Kim Purcell
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: February 16th 2012

Hannah believes she's being brought from Moldova to Los Angeles to become a nanny for a Russian family. But her American dream quickly spirals into a nightmare. The Platonovs force Hannah to work sixteen-hour days, won't let her leave the house, and seem to have a lot of secrets - from Hannah and from each other. Stranded in a foreign land with false documents, no money, and nobody who can help her, Hannah must find a way to save herself from her new status as a modern-day slave or risk losing the one thing she has left: her life.

The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: February 21st 2012

Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: February 28th 2012

Re-releases/new in paperback:

Choker by Elizabeth Woods
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Release date: Feburary 7th 2012

Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott
(Amazon | Goodreads)

Release date: Feburary 21st 2012

Abby acepted that she can’t measure up to her beautiful, magnetic sister Tess a long time ago, and knows exactly what she is: Second best. Invisible.
Until the accident. Now Tess is in a coma, and Abby’s life is on hold. It may have been hard living with Tess, but it's nothing compared to living without her. She's got a plan to bring Tess back though, involving the gorgeous and mysterious Eli, but then Abby learns something about Tess, something that was always there, but that she’d never seen. Abby is about to find out that truth isn't always what you think it is, and that life holds more than she ever thought it could...

These are this month's releases I'm anticipating. Which February releases are most excited for?

Guest Post by Ivy Adams & Giveaway (The International Kissing Club Blog Tour)

2012-01-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

Today we have Ivy Adams/Emily McKay here for a guest post on China! This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams. You can find out more about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops of the blog tour if you'd like to know more about The International Kissing Club!

Around the World in 80 Kisses Smooch Stop #63

Feature on China by Emily McKay

The sad truth is, I don’t have much to say about China. Or rather, there’s not much I could say that you couldn’t read dozens (or thousands) of other places on line. China is vast and diverse. It’s practically its own continent. Besides, I’ve never been there. A blog post from me about China, would be like a haiku about War and Peace by Adam Sandler. Just a bad idea all around.

But what I can talk about is Mei and her experience in China.

Occasionally, we have people ask why we decided to write a character who had been adopted and why we chose to have Mei have been adopted from China in particular. (Btw, by “we” I mean Tracy, Shellee and myself, the three friends who wrote IKC.) I don’t remember why we picked China in particular, but I do remember that we decided very early on to have one character who was adopted and searching for her parents.

When we were plotting the book, we started with the title. Although the title was cute and charming, we didn’t want the book to be vapid or frivolous. We knew we wanted one girl to be in it for the kissing, one who was in it for more serious reasons, one who just wanted to get out and one who had to stay at home. If you’re sixteen, what’s more serious than finding out about your birth parents? Than finding out who you are?

When the three of us writers divided up the characters, Mei was the one we all shared. Some of the early chapters were written together. Literally with all three of us huddled around tables at Starbucks while we dictated and debated. Once we got Mei’s voice down, we divvied up chapters by our strengths. Both Shellee and Tracy are great at setting, so they did the chapters when Mei first arrives. (Plus Tracy’s husband travels to China on business, so she had the inside track there.) Shellee writes great heroes, so she got to write Mei and Guiran’s farewell. Tracy writes fabulous kisses, so she wrote the fountain scene. So by default, I ended up writing the scene where Guiran and Mei visit the Social Welfare Institute where Mei lived before being adopted by the Joneses.

I started my research the way I always do, with hours of procrastination. I spent days on end reading blogs of adoption stories. Hundreds of families have posted their stories on line. I gotta tell ya, it was not for the faint of heart. I sat down that first morning with my laptop and cuppa joe. Seven minutes later I was blotting my eyes on my sleeve. It wasn’t long before I was working my way through a box of Klenex. There are amazing stories out there. Heart wrenching stories of love and hope and fear ... all the stuff that makes up parenting of any kind. Looking over and over again at those sweet kids. Knowing they found homes and families. Seeing the siblings who welcomed them into their lives. Man, it gets to you. I dare you to read those blogs without crying. I dare you.

You might wonder why I kept reading them. I did days and days of grueling research. But I never quite found what I needed. I needed pictures. Lots of them. Sure, all the adoption blogs had pictures, but they were mostly of the cute kids. I needed shots of the SWI. The people who worked there. The street the SWI was on. That’s the kind of thing I needed and despite all my efforts (and probably two boxes of Klenex), I just didn’t find it online. I know. Shocking right? Not all research can be done online.

Ultimately, I had to step out of my comfort zone. I had to talk to an actual person.
Luckily, I know several people who have adopted kids from China. I just didn’t know any of them well enough to say, “Hey, can I see all your pictures from this important and intimate time in your life?” But I made myself do it. I asked. People always amaze me with their generosity and openness and this experience was no exception. I got great info from more than one family. I hope I did justice to their generosity.

In the end, I’m so glad I asked for help, but I’m also thankful for all the mom’s online who share their journeys. It was worth the three boxes of Klenex. (Yes, it was three.)

Giveaway

Now tell me the story you’ve read lately that’s had you pull out your hankie in the comments (leave your email so we can contact you) to be entered to win the Around the World In 80 Kisses daily and weekly prize and also become eligible to win the Grand Prize, a Kindle Fire. For a list of all our Smooch Posts you can visit and earn more entries to win, visit us here.

The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams
(Amazon | Goodreads)

The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams is the story of four best friends: Piper, Cassidy, Mei, and Izzy--the misfits of Paris, Texas. Their whole lives, they’ve dreamed of escaping small-town life and seeing the world. So when Piper is the victim of an embarrassing prank that goes viral online, she gets the idea that the girls should escape via the school’s international exchange program, in search of fun, love and internet redemption.

Emily McKay, Shellee Roberts and Tracy Deebs write under the pseudonym Ivy Adams. They shop, gossip and watch movies in Austin, Texas.