Addicted to Heroines

2012 Debut Author Challenge

2011-11-19T13:53:00.000-06:00

So, I'm excited to participate in The Story Siren's 2012 Debut Author Challenge. I'm challenging myself to read at least 12 debut MG or YA books in 2012.

I'm most excited about two books debuting in February.

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

and Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

SCBWI Brazos Valley Writers' Conference

2011-11-13T18:10:00.000-06:00

As previously mentioned, I can be very awkward, and no where are my minimal social skills more tested than at a writers' conference. But I'm happy to report that I did not make a TOTAL fool of myself at yesterday's SCBWI Brazos Valley Craft and Connections Conference, well at least not compared to the last conference I attended.

Well, I did walk in late to the pre-conference dinner just as Kathi Appelt, our gracious hostess, started a mini-speech, so everyone stopped, turned around, and stared at me as I stood there grinning and clutching a bottle of wine. And I did manage to stutter and mispronounce words almost every time I spoke to Senior Editor at Katherine Tegen Books, Claudia Gabel. My brain was like, "Ah! She's an editor. Quick, forget how to use English!" Thanks brain.

I also made one mistake. The night before the conference, I knew I needed to figure out how to summarize my book in a sentence. I started to come up with a one-line pitch and memorize it, but then thought, "Nah, I know this book so well, it's SO easy to talk about it!" Big Mistake. When Claudia asked me what my book was about, I think I said, "This girl has powers and stuff." Great.

But overall the conference was pretty fantastic and I learned a lot. I was pretty impressed with the quality of presenters for our little SCBWI chapter and a small venue.

Claudia Gabel started off with a keynote craft lesson on plot structure, characterization, and the importance of outlining. She explained the difference between crisis and conflict in a way I wish I would have heard back when I taught English. She also flashed a bit of the proposal for Elusion, a book she's co-writing with Cheryl Klam and sounds Ah.Ma.Zing.

Next, Brian Floca, author/illustrator of some amazing picture books, did an awesome visual presentation about how he got where he is. He included a hilarious Spiderman picture book he wrote and illustrated when he was a kid.

Local author Doris Fisher talked about breaking into the magazine market and another local writer, Molly Blaisdell gave a workshop on how to write a paragraph synopsis of your story.

Newbery Medal winning author and local legend Kathi Appelt did a gerat audio/visual presentation about the blues and how we can learn to write a character's emotional arc and sorrow by studying blues songs. She discussed and showed examples of spirituals and the call and response structure. She posed the question, When your main character calls, who responds? She also pointed out the role of the devil in a lot of blues music and asked, What does your main character want so badly she'd sell her soul to the devil for it? Both questions gave me a lot to think about in terms of my main character in my WIP.

Finally, up-and-coming super star agent Elena Mechlin at Pippin Properties talked queries and answered the attendees' burning questions. We finished off with an entertaining panel with all the speakers.

We went to dinner at Cafe Eccell after the conference and I think was the cause of only 2 awkward pauses and I'm pretty sure only said 3 stupid things, which is a total record for me. Very proud. :)

I think it helped I already knew some the Brazos Valley writers and this wasn't a high stakes conference for me. I wasn't there to pitch anyone and I didn't get my work critiqued. I'm not an author with a book to sell, but I'm also not asking questions about queries. I felt like a writer in a murky middle area which allowed me to relax and do what I could to help out at the conference.

I can't say it enough, if you have a chance to go to a writers' conference, do it!

Waiting on Wednesday...and Thursday, and Friday, and...well you get it

2011-11-02T14:56:00.001-05:00

So Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where bloggers discuss books they're anticipating. And I'll get to that. But first I wanted to talk about waiting.

It's no coincidence there's only a one letter difference between writing and waiting. Any writer seeking publication knows waiting is just part of the process. I've experienced a bit of waiting myself recently and had a chance to reflect on the waiting process.

I did a lot of waiting and obsessively checking emails while querying agents and I heard published writers say the waiting doesn't get any better once you have an agent. I didn't believe them. I thought I did. I tried to believe them, but lately I've still found myself thinking, "OMG! This waiting is torturous, it's worse than querying! Why did no one warn me?" They warned me.

I've come up with some tips to help you with waiting, but this is more of a "do what I say, not what I do situation." While waiting, my day looked like this: Check email. Check facebook. Check twitter. Read blogs on google reader. Check email. Email friend to make sure email is working. Check facebook. Check twitter. Check facebook. Check for new blog posts on google reader. Check email. Reply to friend. And so on.

Waiting Made ~~Easy!~~ Less Excruciating

1. Stay busy. Waiting is easy if you don't have time to check your email. The days fly by and you can't spare a second to think about it. So take on new tasks at your day job, write like crazy, and spend time with friends and family.

2. Change locations. I don't know why, but it helps. Sleep in a bed not your own, get away from your computer, and the days fly by. I spent last weekend at my parents and although
it wasn't a particularly exciting or eventful trip, I didn't obsessively check my email.

3. Connect with other ~~waiters~~ writers. You feel like things are taking forever? Try talking about it with someone who doesn't understand the publishing industry. My husband is constantly outraged it could take someone a month to reply to an email. He'll say, "Just call him." Because in his job, that makes sense. You want an answer from someone? You just call and ask. So talking with someone who does understand is great. Reach out to other writers and no matter where they are in the publishing process, chances are, they're waiting too. Whine about it together. Trust me, it helps.

4. You're not the only one waiting. I like to think of the process of making a book as a whole. When you think about it, agents/editors have probably waited over a year for you to write the book. So it's only fair you wait one or two months to hear back from them. And they wait for you too! My waiting ended yesterday and now the ball is back in my court and someone is waiting on me. Also, I try not to think of people in the publishing industry as the super-smart-speed-readers they are. I'll ask my co-workers how long it takes them to read a book and adjust my expectations.

5. Write something new. Seriously. There's nothing better to distract you from the last book than to get excited about the next one.

6. Magic makes everything better. If all else fails, I like to think of NYC as this magical place, like the land of Faerie or...space, where a single day there is the same as three months here. We're writers. Without our imaginations to comfort us, what do we have?

Speaking of Waiting...
Here are the two books I'm most excited about in 2012. I can't wait!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Not only am I fascinated by John's signing psychosis, but this book sounds amazing! I read the first chapter here and I can't wait to get my copy!

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood. Isn't the cover gorgeous? I've heard so many great things about this book. I can't wait to read this beautiful story.

Give Away!

What book are you waiting on? Tell me in the comments before midnight CST Wednesday 11/9/11 for a chance to win. I'll choose one random commenter to win either a pre-order of a book not yet released or a copy of a book released in the last 2 months. (U.S. only, sorry)

Charlotte Shines in A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL by Suzanne Young

2011-10-28T12:27:00.004-05:00

So I want to gush and tell you about how beautiful this book is, but I have this strict No-Spolier policy. Actually it's more of a moral-code than a policy, but still. The ending is one of my favorite parts of this story, but I'm not going to tell you about it, except to say I loved how Suzanne Young didn't wimp out in A Need So Beautiful. She set up a battle between light and dark and followed her own rules. I might have already said too much. I'll stop.

Ok, so since I'm not going to talk about the ending, I'll tell you about my other favorite part of A Need So Beautiful-- Harlin. See what I did there? We just switched from a meaningful spiritual ending to a hot guy on a motorcycle. I'm not the type to usually develop crushes on fictional characters. First, it makes me feel pervy to crush on minors, and second, even though I'm still waiting for my Hogwarts acceptance letter, I DO remember they're not real. Most of the time.

But Harlin? It's hard not to crush on the bad boy with a good heart. Charlotte and Harlin's romance is so perfect because not only is it hot, but I beleived they're truly in love. So often YA romances are either about two people who fall in love and know each other well but never touch, or two people who get hot and heavy but never talk. Charlotte and Harlin's relationship is a realistic blend. They care about each other and share hopes and fears, but also share some smokin's scenes.

Young started out as a contemporary writer and her strength there shines through. Although I liked the unique paranormal element, the realtionships are the strength of this story. And not just between Chralotte and Harlin. Charlotte's relationship with her troubled best-friend is both heart-breaking and inspiring. I also might have gotten a little choked up at the scenes with Charlotte's foster family.

I'll definitely be reading the sequel, A Want so Wicked when it comes out this summer.

Give Away!
Oh, and I haven't blogged for two weeks, so to make good on my promise, I'm giving away a copy of A Need So Beautiful. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before 12pm Central time on Friday 11/4/11 saying you want a book and I'll randonly pick one lucky winner to receive a copy.

Winner! Random.org chose #1, so that means Karen is our winner! Congratulations, Karen!

Paolo Bacigalupi writes real women in SHIP BREAKER

2011-10-07T17:05:00.002-05:00

You don't need me to tell you Ship Breaker is an amazing novel. It won the 2011 Printz Award and was a National Book Award Finalist. A lot of people much smarter than me agree Paolo Bacigalupi has written a masterpiece.

Ship Breaker has some of the best world-building I've ever read. You might expect an epic post-apocalyptic sci-fi pirating novel to be a little far-fetched, but the world Bacigalupi has created felt so real, gritty, and complete I never questioned any aspect of the complex setting.

Nailer is a perfectly flawed hero. He's loyal and kind, yet fierce. I was swept away by the story and captivated by Bacgalupi's prose. The danger and desperation of Bright Sands Beach and Nailer's life of poverty and abuse felt so real, I ached for him to escape.

But more than just an excellent story, I was impressed with the women in this book. Bacigalupi created a stark dichotomy between rich and poor, or swank and ship breaker, and in doing so he was careful to craft whole and mutli-faceted female characters. So when Nailer meets Nita, their differences aren't about gender, but about economics and culture.

So often stories that follow the hero's journey have oversimplified archetypal females: the mother, the witch, and the ~~sex-object~~ love interest. Bright Sands Beach is full of smart, tough, hard-working women who are fleshed out as complex characters. There's smart and loyal Pima, Nailer's best friend. There's Sadna, who acts like a mother to Nailer but also beats the crap out of the villain. There's Sloth the betrayer, and Blue Eyes the crafty cult-member.

Even Nita who is weaker than the other girls because she's grown up in the lap of luxury and needs to be rescued a few times, is awfully tough and pretty smart. She helps to save herself like any self-respecting heroine should and she has an awesome line at the end basically telling Nailer to suck it up.

I also loved how Bacigalupi crafts the romance. Nailer's culture values hard-work and the ability to earn a living, so we know he's falling for Nita when he compliments her ability to skin eels.

Ship Breaker is a dark adventure with some tough chicks who hold their own.

Middle Grade That Makes You Think: WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead

2011-09-27T11:49:00.001-05:00

When I told my critique partner, Kate Karyus Quinn, that I was rewriting my YA urban fantasy as middle grade, she recommended When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. She asked me if I'd read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle because it would help to understand When You Reach Me.

Had I read A Wrinkle in Time? Only about five or six times. It's one of my all time favorite books. It's the book that made me want to be a writer. So with that caveat, my expectations were set pretty high for When You Reach Me and it did not disappoint.

A Wrinkle in Time is Miranda's favorite book too and she carries it with her everywhere she goes through New York City in 1979. Miranda is a latch-key kid of a single mom who works hard and is competing to strike it rich on the $20,000 Pyramid, a popular 1970's game show.

The book starts off slowly, but Miranda's authentic voice drew me in immediately. When You Reach Me reads like a quiet mystery, but when Miranda receives a note that could have only come from the future, the science fiction elements to the story unfold.

I love time travel, I love intelligent twelve-year-old girl protagonists, and I love smart books that give you all the little pieces to a large puzzle that fit so neatly yet surprisingly together in the end. Stead has created a masterpeice of a smart but simple story. Miranda's voice and her experience feel so real and honest that the speculative aspects of the story feel real as well. This book made me think hard about paradoxes and the theories behind time travel without it ever feeling like a science fiction book.

If you liked A Wrinkle in Time or any time travel story, or are thinking of writing middle grade, I couldn't reccomend this book more.

Give Away! Because I'm a Slacker

2011-09-20T10:38:00.005-05:00

Edit to update: Thank you so much to those who participated in my little give away. I really appreciate it. The contest is now closed, random.org has chosen and the winners are...Kate and Amanda!!!
I'll email you for your addresses and send you your books. Thanks so much!

I want to blog, I really do. It's just...I forget. Or get busy. Or it's been too long that I'm embarrassed to start again and all The Doubts creep in and tell me no one is listening anyway, so why bother.

But no more. I have a plan. We writer peoples need plans to conquer The Doubts and here is mine: From now on, every week that I don't blog, I will give away a book to one of you.

Give Away!
Because I've been especially naughty and I'm just now starting this new motivation/punishment system, this week I'm giving away 2 BOOKS!

How to enter:
All you have to do is leave a comment. Tell me which of the books I've reviewed so far (or their sequels) you want and why. The contest is open until midnight CDT on Thursday 9/22/11. On Friday I'll have random.org pick two winners. Sorry, open to US only.

Easy, yes? Yes.

Ok. So of all the books I've reviewed, which one do you want?

IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma

2011-09-19T15:26:00.000-05:00

Hello my Junkies, how I've missed you! Check back tomorrow for a book give-away in apology/punishment for my absence.

Have you read Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma? Have you? Hmmm?

This is one of those stories that's difficult to summarize or even place into a genre without giving too much away. Nova Ren Suma classifies it as magical realism and that works for me.

The book is narrated by Chloe and she is the protagonist, but the story isn't so much about her as much as it's about her older sister, Ruby. Actually Chloe's whole life, her whole world, is not so much about Chloe as much as it's about Ruby.

Chloe idolizes Ruby and is convinced Ruby can do anything. And Ruby does. She has the whole town wrapped around her little finger. Chloe loves her for it and Ruby would do anything for her.

This book has a surreal, dream-like quality to it. But much like the reservoir in the small town, danger lurks beneth the calm surface.

Ruby terrifies me. Chloe loves her and trusts her, but Ruby is a little too powerful and too unstable for me to be comfortable. And that's what's so great about this story. We swim along, floating on Suma's beautiful writing, but in the back of our mind we know darkness is closing in.

Imaginary Girls has some of the things I love most in books: an unreliable narrator, a dysfunctional family, and a touch of magic.

It's a great read. Check back tomorrow for a chance to win a copy.

Kaede kicks ass in HUNTRESS by Malinda Lo

2011-07-06T14:42:00.000-05:00

The ancient world in Huntress is dying. The seasons won't change, the sky is a constant shade of grey, crops are dried up, and people are starving. Kaede and Taisin are two teenage girls in an academy training to be sages. Taisin is a gifted sage from a humble birth, while Kaede has remained in the academy despite any magical ability because she is the chancellor's daughter.

When the King receives an invitation from the Fairy Queen, Taisin's visions and a prophecy determine that Kaede and Taisin must accompany Prince Con into the world of fairy. Taisin's only worried about one thing: in her vision, she's in love with Kaede and sages must take a vow of celibacy. Taisin wants more than anything to be a sage and is determined to not let any feelings get in her way.

Huntress by Malinda Lo is a splendid fantasy full of both intense adventure and a sweet romance. The love story in this book feels so genuine and pure. I kept reading late into the night just to see more interaction between these two girls.

Huntress is technically a prequel to Ash, Lo's retelling of Cinderella. Although I loved Ash as well, I feel like Huntress is the stronger book and is easy to read completely on its own. If you like Graceling by Kristin Cashore ( I love it!) then I think you'll enjoy Huntress as well.

And for you writer-types, Lo does something interesting with point-of-view. Huntress is told in 3rd person omniscient-ish. We see inside several characters' heads. I hadn't read a contemporary book that pulls this off until now.

So, check out Huntress and let me know what you think!

Ooh, also. I just read this epilogue-ish short story by Malinda Lo here.

From bimbos to badasses in BEAUTY QUEENS by Libba Bray

2011-06-21T19:21:00.000-05:00

A plane full of beauty pageant contestants crashes on a deserted island. It's an awesome premise, but in Beauty Queens, Libba Bray does so much more than give us Lord of the Flies in heels.

Bray's smart and hilarious writing takes us deep into the psyche of our ensemble cast of teen beauty queens. Each girl has her own reasons for entering the pageant and each girl has her own demons to conquer on the island as she comes into her own. It is a truly ensemble cast, but Petra is my favorite. She might be the one with the biggest secret, but she is also the girl who has the clearest sense of who she is. Beauty Queens is somehow both campy and deep, it delivers a strong message and yet is light-hearted and hilarious.

If you took LOST, James Bond, Glee, Clueless, The Heart of Darkness, added some feminist-flavored rum, and put them in a blender, Beauty Queens would be the fruity cocktail you'd enjoy by the pool.

I loved Bray's use of footnotes in the novel and many of them had me literally laughing out loud. Example: "Che Guevara, the Argentine Marxist revolutionary who later became a best-selling t-shirt icon."

Although they might start off as superficial pageant contestants, Beauty Queens is full of strong heroines, some of which become pretty bad-ass. It's great fun to see the girls use their beautifying skills to survive on the island and confront any dangers that come their way. I love this book and I think anyone who's ever seen an advertisement for a beauty product should read it.

Holly Black knows how to make readers feel smart in RED GLOVE

2011-06-07T10:20:00.002-05:00

I read because I like to feel smart. Sure, I read as an exercise in escapism. I read to step into someone else's shoes and to learn about the world around me. I read to laugh. I read to cry. Sure, whatever.

I love books that make me feel smart. I'm not talking about reading Plato's Republic and then annoying my friends with Socratic quotes. Not that kind of smart. I love figuring things out. I love that "aha!" moment, when I'm pretty sure I've solved the mystery. I love that light bulb moment so much, that I'll sometimes put a sticky note on the page where things finally came together. That way, later when someone asks "When did you figure out the BIG MYSTERY?" I can say, "HA! I knew all the way back on page 98." (No one's ever asked, but you know, just in case).

BUT! Here's the thing. As much as I love feeling smart, I also love being tricked. And this is where Holly Black is most brilliant. She's weaved so many mysteries, twists, and turns into Red Glove that while I'm patting myself on the back for figuring one thing out (sticky note ready) BAM! Someone sneaks up behind me and whacks me on the head with a shovel. (Not literally, you know what I mean).

Red Glove is the second book in Holly Black's magical mobster Curse Workers Series. But Red Glove is so much more than a sequel to White Cat. As Kiersten White eloquently points out, Red Glove avoids all the second book pitfalls and is the "perfect middle book."

Cassel's brother is murdered and he has to figure out who killed him, while hiding his powerful curse, and shaking off both the mob and the feds who are breathing down his neck trying to recruit him. The thing is, Cassel is a pretty screwed up guy. With an emotion-worker for a mom, he doesn't trust his own feelings, let alone those of others. His family is full of criminals and killers, and although he doesn't want to be like them, he doesn't know how to be anything else. He doesn't trust his own sense of right and wrong. Lies come more easily than the truth. His self-loathing is so complete, he can't believe anyone would like him unless they're being conned, worked, and/or lied to.

Black does a brilliant job of letting the reader figure some things out long before Cassel does. He's so lovably screwed up, he can't see what's right in front of him. But at the same time, Cassel is so busy lying, hiding, and conning, we never see the end coming. Dark and heartbreaking, with thrilling set-ups and cons, Red Glove's best con is the one Black pulls on the readers.

**Ok, so I know I'm breaking my own rules by raving about a book with a male protagonist. But, I wouldn't mess with ANY of the women in this book, they're all pretty kick-ass in their own right. And, they're my rules and I can break them if I want to. So there.

Fancy is Wicked in SLICE OF CHERRY by Dia Reeves

2011-05-31T21:29:00.000-05:00

Hello! So, a few weeks ago Blogger was doing funny things and ate my post on Divergent by Veronica Roth. But I've been too ~~lazy~~ incredibly busy to rewrite it. So, I'll sum up. You should read it. Divergent crawled inside my head and stayed there for days. Fans of The Hunger Games will love it.

OK then, onward and upward!

I loved Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves and I was excited about Slice of Cherry. I'd heard it was darker, bloodier, and even better than Bleeding Violet. And guess what? They were right! These people who say these things: so smart!

It's not a sequel, but Slice of Cherry takes place in Portrero, the same town as Bleeding Violet, and Hanna and Wyatt make a cameo. Slice of Cherry is about Kit and Fancy, daughters of an incarcerated serial-killer known as the Bone-Saw Killer. And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The girls can't fight the desire to cut and kill (well, it's not like they try hard).

All Fancy wants is for her and her sister to be together and be allowed to be themselves, even if that means an occasional homicide. Reeves has this way of combining blood, murder, sex, and a light-hearted playfulness into a book that is difficult to put down but creates this uncomfortable squishy spot inside you.

I'd find myself rooting for Fancy and her murderous desires, only to be disgusted with myself for doing so. Through their special abilities in the dangerously magical world of Portrero, Kit and Fancy turn murder into a game. Although it made me squeamish at times, I loved how remorseless Fanny is. She doesn't apologize for who she is. Ultimately this is a book about being true to yourself, sticking by your family, and searching for what it means to be "good."

There are some books where you love the world and the characters so much, you want to dive into the book and live the characters' lives. This is not one of those books. Reeves does an excellent job of making Portrero and the girls' world feel disturbingly real, but I'm really glad it's not.

If you want to read a book you can feel in your gut, I highly recommend Slice of Cherry.

Some Conference Tips from a Social Dweeb

2011-04-29T13:06:00.000-05:00

So, it's conference season in the publishing world and now that I've attended a handful of writers' conferences, I thought I'd share what I learned. Now there are plenty of blogs and interviews from agents and other publishing peeps with advice on conferences. Except for some great tips about how to pitch, most of the advice out there comes down to this: Don't be crazy.

Now chances are, if you're reading blogs looking for advice about attending a conference, then you probably aren't the type to pitch in the bathroom or get irate at rejection.

But I've learned there are so many more subtle ways you can screw up at a conference. So here's some of my mistakes and what I've learned.

Start Early

It's intimidating to attend an event in different city with people you don't know, and all that possibility and potential hanging in the air. And if you're like me, you might like to take a moment, or a day, to sit back, observe, and figure out how these things work before plunging in. This is a mistake. Don't wait until the closing cocktail party to pitch that agent or talk to that author.
At the last conference I attended, most of the agents came to the first hour of the closing cocktail party and then left. People have planes to catch and if no one is pitching them in the first hour, they figure they might as well go drink and talk amongst themselves somewhere where there's not a bunch of drooling writers staring at them from across the room.
So, if you see that agent you're dying to pitch hanging out by the coffee the first morning of the conference, go pitch him/her! Everyon waits until the last event of the conference to gather their courage, but then you'll have to fight off the other vultures or you'll be disappointed when the agent has to take off to catch a plane, or go get a tattoo, or whatever.

Socialize

Ha! How I wish I could tell you how to do this well. I'm terribly awkward person with this huge, looming fear of social rejection following me wherever I go. I'm timid and shy at first but once someone actually makes eye contact with me and starts talking, then something kicks over in my brain and I can't be stopped. Once I realize I won't be rejected, I just talk and talk, getting louder and louder, making weird noises, flailing my hands about and knocking things over. It's awful. But I do it anyways. Force yourself to talk to people.
The same start early advice applies here. As soon as you have the name badge around your neck, start introducing yourself. don't know what to say? Here are the basics:

"Where are you from?"
"What do you write?"
"How's your conference going?"
"Which panel did you/are you going to attend?"

Found yourself awkward and alone? Go stand by the food or coffee, people will come to you! Then hit them with one of the abover lines.
Also, don't be clingy. Once you've broken the ice with that first person, don't follow her around all day. Branch out and keep mingling.
Exchange contact info and follow through, it's easy to shoot someone an email or follow thier blog or twitter and say, "It was great to meet you at the conference."

Talk to the Published Authors

If you've read an author's work and loved it, tell her. I've made the mistake of trying to give authors meaningful looks at signings, hoping they'll remember me. Or I think, "Why should I say I loved their book? They must hear that all the time, if I can't be original, then I won't say anything at all." Stupid!
Also, it's ok to talk to an author if you haven't read their book. I still quite haven't learned this one. At my last conference, an author stood behind me in line at a signing and we just stood there in silence, awkward. If we were at the grocery store, I would've talked to him, but I felt ashamed or embarrassed that I hadn't read his book.

Pick your Panels Wisely

I know you're probably attending conferences in hopes of getting an agent. But there's also tons of other opportunities for learning and meeting other writers. Don't attend a panel simply because the agent of your dreams is on it. Giving strong looks from the audience will not make them offer representation, I promise. And a lot of the time, the agent panels are usually about how to get an agent or trends. Both of which agents usually don't like talking about and both of which you can learn an ENORMOUS amount from this thing called the internet. Don't get stuck in a How to Query panel with the blue-haired lady asking, "What's a query?" and "Don't you just love rhetorical questions?" You'll smack yourself in the head, wanting to scream, "HOW CAN YOU SPEND $300 ON A CONFERENCE BUT HAVE NEVER READ NATHAN BRANSFORD"S BLOG??!!" Ahem. In other words, try to attend panels where you'll learn something you can't find bu googling it.

So, I'm incredibly awkward and have made lots of mistakes, but I've managed to attend a few conferences without being blacklisted from publishing. I've learned tons and met lots of great people. If you're a social dweeb like me and the only thing holding you back from going to a conference is fear of going alone, then I say, forget fear, and go for it! Be awkward with other writers!

Amelia predicts you'll love THE VESPERTINE by Saundra Mitchell

2011-04-20T10:00:00.001-05:00

I'm usually not a fan of historical fiction. It's difficult for me to care about problems that don't exist today, like tight corsets and strict courting rules. But Saundra Mitchell's writing is so pure and so real, I was sucked back in time.

Within the first few pages of The Vespertine, we know Amelia is "ruined." Then the story jumps back a few months and we watch her ruination unfold. I found myself (even with my staunch apathy towards courting rules of the past) constantly worried about Amelia's reputation. Each time she bent the rules, I'd think, "Amelia! Your virtue! Protect your virtue!" Somehow Mitchell's amazing words turned me into a Victorian grandma.

I think that's what I loved most about this book. Mitchell creates a world so solid, so complete, that I was both shocked and exhilarated by Amelia's daring when she touched a boy's bare hand or asked for his address.

And really, I don't think the story would work as well in any other time period. Amelia sees the future in the sunset. She doesn't know when or where the images she sees will unfold, only that they will. In a time when spiritualism was all the rave, Amelia's gift makes her very popular in Baltimore....until she's blamed for the tragedies she foresees.

I love how the characters readily accepted the supernatural occurrences in the novel. And that makes sense, really. There was so much we didn't know and didn't understand about our world in the Victorian era. Now, we'd be concerned with the hows and whys, but back then, not knowing was just part of life.

Mitchell somehow manages to write both a beautiful and fast-paced story. She also doesn't pull any punches, this is truly a gothic novel with its fair share of devastation.

I see in the vespers...you'll love it!

WLT YA A to Z conference

2011-04-18T10:20:00.001-05:00

This weekend I attended the first ever WLT YA A to Z Conference in Austin, Texas. I guess it was also the first ever conference that focused only on YA, which is pretty awesome.

The conference was great. There were panels Friday and Saturday, an opening cocktail reception on Friday, a keynote lunch with Tim Wynne-Jones on Saturday, and a closing party on Saturday night. You could also sign up to pitch to agents, consult with editors or authors, and/or get your work critiqued by an editor or author. I didn't partake in any of the consultations, I was just there to meet other writers and learn as much as I could.

Kay, I'd be totally lying if I didn't tell you that the absolute highlight of my conference was meeting my idol/agent-sister Carrie Ryan. I'm pretty sure I did something stupid and embarrassed myself each time I talked to her, but I'm just proud of myself for not jumping up and down and screaming, "OMG, CARRIE RYAN! I LOVE ZOMBIES!"

I also met many awesome Texas YA writers. Haley, Sian, Donna, Zana, Jaimie, Sian, Tori, Yasmine, and Kayla, it was so great talking to you!

OK Junkies, I also took NOTES on all the lovely tidbits of KNOWLEDGE floating around the conference.

From a panel about the MARKET

YA historical is easier to sell to school and library market than commercially
Agents and editors are still looking for men writing YA for boys (there was some good discussion about what that looks like)
Agent Regina Brooks said she and the editors she works with are looking for YA mysteries.

From a panel about writing Fantasy

Carrie Ryan explained her brilliant world-building believability points system. Basically, since she asks her readers to suspend their disbelief and just accept that zombies exist, she has to work hard to make sure she's not asking them to suspend their disbelief on too much else. So she works to make everything else as TRUE as possible, including the NY subway system.
Remember the kryptonite! All powerful characters are boring.

From a panel about writing for tweens

Greg Leitich Smith said (roughly), "Although I wish every child in America would read my book, I know that's not the case. We're not writing for every child. We're writing for the child who reads, and the child who reads is probably much smarter than the average adult."

And I wish you all could have been there for Tim Wynn-Jones's brilliant key-note address. He discussed the writer's inner genius, or subconscious, or what he likes to call, Brenda. He talked about how our minds put little gifts on the page for us to find later. He said, when you're writing and come across a problem, the first place you should look is your own text. We subconsciously leave a road map within our own stories. Varian Johnson also touched on the idea of inner-genius in his workshop on metaphor. Metaphors and symbols shouldn't be forced, we should find things already in our own text and simply expand and refine them.

Well, after this weekend, I sure am inspired and motivated to write! I've been floundering a little lately, but after some good advice this weekend, I have a clear idea of what I need to be working on.

If you get a chance to attend the WLT YA A to Z conference next year, I highly recommend it!

Houston Teen Book Con

2011-04-11T11:05:00.001-05:00

On Saturday morning, I popped on over to Houston Teen Book Con. Ugly traffic and poor planning made me late, but I made it just in time to grab my free ARC (woohoo!), find a writer-friend, and watch the author introductions and Deb Caletti's awesome keynote address.

It was so great just be around that many teen readers. Yes I'm surrounded by teenagers five days a week, all of whom are forced to read, but this was different. My heart warmed at the collective sighs as Deb Caletti described her love of books. The cheers and applause for authors and their books, as if they were rock stars, thrilled me. Somehow, watching awkward teens milling about, clutching books to their chests, inspired more hope for humanity than my daily view of teenage swagger.

I attended the panel titled, "Where there be ghosts...and werewolves, and everything else!" Rachel Hawkins, Saundra Mitchell, Stacey Kade, Joy Preble, and Andrea Cremer were funny, insightful, and incredibly open and honest in answering questions. Saundra Mitchell discussed how paranormal creatures in fiction reflect the attitudes and general consciousness of the writer's society. All the authors spoke candidly when asked, "What YA book do you wish you had read as a teen?" The panel was great and over entirely too quickly.

Unfortunately I couldn't stay for any more panels or for the signings afterward. But the Teen Book Con was a blast for the short time I was there. If you ever have a chance to attend something like this, I highly recommend it.

P.S. I tried taking pictures with my phone, but they didn't come out well, so I'll spare everyone pics of blurry authors.

Annah is a fighter in THE DARK AND HOLLOW PLACES by Carrie Ryan

2011-04-07T17:04:00.000-05:00

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan is by far my favorite book in the Forest of Hands and Teeth series. And Annah is my favorite of the three heroines. She's the strongest, but also the most damaged.

While Mary and Gabry both grew up in relative safety, Annah has been fighting to survive since she was five years old. Both Mary and Gabry took risks while figuring out what they wanted out of life. (Sometimes these risks made me want to yell at them and say, "No! Just stay put! There are zombies out there! What are you thinking?!!! Ahhh!!!")

Annah, on the other hand, is less reckless but her world is so much more dangerous. Everyday is a struggle to survive. She doesn't need to take stupid risks to decide what she wants, she already knows. She wants to be safe and she wants to be loved. But in a world consumed by death, where even the living have lost their humanity, this might be too much to ask for.

I found The Dark and Hollow Places to be significantly darker and more terrifying than The Forest of Hands and Teeth or The Dead-Tossed Waves. Ryan explores the cruelty of human nature and what we're capable of once order is stripped away--ideas just touched on in the previous two books. At times, I didn't know if I was more scared of the Unconsecrated or the Recruiters.

And boy are there some scary scenes! In real life, I'm totally scared of the dark. Who knew that reading about the dark would make me so terrified? I had to stop and catch my breath a few times, I was gasping and panting while reading, I was so scared. (Note: I'm a wuss)

Don't worry, though, it's not all doom, gloom, and fear. I also think the love story in this book is the best of all three. Unlike with Mary and Gabry's romances, it was clear from the start who Annah belonged with. And there's nothing more satisfying than watching two characters learn to love themselves so they can begin to love each other.

I loaned my copy of the book to a student and when she finished, she told me, "And I'm so glad she fell in love with him because...well...yeah."
"Yeah," I said.
Sometimes sixteen-year-olds say it best.

You will not be disappointed in the conclusion to this amazing series.

On the Eve of April Fools...

2011-03-31T22:04:00.000-05:00

I love this holiday. What? April 1st isn't a real holiday? Well it is for me. I think humor is one of the best parts of being human, so a day that's all about the funny? Love it!

My family loves some April foolin' too. One year my mom put plastic wrap on the toilet. Do you know what happens when you put plastic wrap over the toilet? That's right, you end up peeing all over yourself. Hilarious. Disgusting, but hilarious. I thought it was so funny that I brought the plastic wrap to school and covered those toilets too!

In fifth grade, I convinced my teacher to write me a suspension notice saying I pulled the fire alarm. My mom didn't believe it for a second.

When my sister was about twenty, she called my mom and told her she was pregnant, and oh my God, she couldn't handle it and won't my mom raise her baby? When my mom said no, she even started crying. April Fools!

I love pulling pranks on my students, too. I've gotten them good with the fake high stakes district test that I forgot to warn them about. I've even passed out tests and watched them struggle through it for a few minutes.

Last year, two female students really got me. They started bickering and it escalated until they were cussing and then jumped at each other as if to fight. I ran between them, shouting, red in the face, and the whole class erupted in laughter.

I also love all the shenanigans on the internet on April 1st. Absolute Write is always a fun place on April Fool's Day. The best part of the online foolery is the people who haven't quite caught on and leave confused or even angry comments on foolish forums.

Really, the key to a good April Fool's joke is to get 'em early. Because most people, once they're fooled once, will not be fooled twice--at least not in the same day. I won't believe anything anyone tells me tomorrow. Last year a friend emailed saying he was engaged. I just thought, what a weird April Fool's Day joke. It wasn't.

I was thinking about pranks and April Fool's Day in terms of this whole writing game. Agents and editors hold so many dreams in their hands. I wonder if any of them are tempted to play a prank or two? OK, if my agent called and said "You have a mega 3-book deal!....April Fools!" I'd be devastated, that would be totally cruel. But the other way around? "Sorry, I just can't sell your book....except I just did!" Might be kind of cool.....Ok, just kidding. I'm way too fragile when it comes to this publishing dream to be toyed around with. I bet most writers feel the same way.

What about you? Any good April Fools Day pranks?

Just keep writing...(or why manuscripts are like ex-boyfriends)

2011-03-24T19:53:00.001-05:00

One of the best pieces of advice you'll find on this whole journey towards publication is: write another book. Now this advice can be either incredibly helpful or incredibly depressing, depending on where you are in the writing process.

Once upon a time, I wrote a middle grade adventure/fantasy. There was a secret magic school and sinister bad guys who forced the students to eat avocados! I made a lot of classic mistakes in the manuscript and in the querying process. I queried way too early. I'd do a little research, send a batch of queries, refresh my email, more research, refresh email, get rejections, revise the manuscript, do a little research, send another batch of queries, refresh my email....on and on and on.

About six months passed between when I sent my first query and my last. My manuscript changed dramatically during this time and my body of knowledge about the publishing industry grew exponentially.

A month or so into this process, I read some statistic, or maybe it was just anecdotal evidence, on an agent's blog (either Janet Reid's or Kristin Nelson's--both are INCREDIBLY helpful for queriers), but basically she said that writers hardly ever--like never--sell their first book. I was devastated. I was working so hard! How could this be? Digging around on author's blogs, you'll find almost all of them have at least one (if not five) books they've written and are "trunked" or "shelved."

I called my mom with this horrible news.
Me: "Mom! I just read that, like, no one gets their first book published!"
Mom: "So, write another book."
Me: "But it's my baby!"

At the time I was pissed off and horrified. How could she just tell me to write another book? She just said it in her cheery tone like it was nothing! I've just spent almost two years of my life on this and she says write another book!

I honestly felt like my child had died and my own mother was telling me, it's ok just have another one.

Well, guess what happened? I wrote another book. Because in this whole writing game, there's an awful lot of waiting. Just to keep myself from refreshing my email too many times, I started something new.

So I wrote while I waited and eventually this rebound story started getting exciting. I saw how much BETTER it could be than my first book. So by the time my last partial rejection came in, I was so wrapped up in this new story that it didn't hurt quite so much. It was ok.

Now, I don't think of that first book as a lost child. I think of that book like I think of my 8th grade boyfriend. Sure it hurt A LOT when we parted ways when I was 13. But now? Do I think of him as the one-who-got-away? Do I fantasize how things would be different if things had worked out with us? NO, definitely not. I learned a lot from that first relationship and I might have looked him up on facebook, just once, but that's it.

Giving up on or shelving a manuscript is a lot like a break up. It hurts like hell at the time. But as long as you keep putting yourself out there, you'll find someone new. And after a while, this new person is so great, you can't even remember what you saw in that last story.

So now that I'm back at another waiting stage in this whole process, I have a little song I like to sing to myself. You know Dory, from Finding Nemo? She sings "just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." Well, whenever I'm tempted to drive myself crazy refreshing, I sing to myself "Just keep writing, just keep writing."

I love Donia in DARKEST MERCY by Melissa Marr

2011-03-21T20:57:00.000-05:00

So, it's like really hard to talk about the last book in a series without spoiling the preceding books. So, if you haven't read them yet, go read the first four Wicked Lovely books by Melissa Marr, like now. Of course I won't spoil Darkest Mercy, because that would be sick and wrong.

Now, Donia was one of my favorite characters from Wicked Lovely, so I was super excited to see her on the cover of Darkest Mercy. I have to admit, though, I was a little nervous to read the last book in this awesome series, because I knew war was brewing and I feared a blood-bath.

Also, when I read Radiant Shadows many moons ago, I screamed at the last line of the epilogue. Devlin tells Seth, "Try not to die, brother." Ahh!

I love Seth! And really, he is near and dear to so many faeries that he's the perfect target for Bananach to start some trouble. So yes, I was worried, but once I started reading, of course I couldn't stop.

Melissa Marr blew me away once again with her brilliant prose. What I loved about this final book, was its sense of humor. We know these characters so well now and Marr slipped in all these inside jokes and great one-liners. And Niall--oh how I love Niall--even when he's on the brink of madness and overwhelmed with grief, is pretty darn funny.

Marr uses so many point of views, I lost count. But because we know almost all the characters so well, it was never dizzying. We are introduced to two new faeries, Far Dorcha and Ankou. And in the way only Marr knows how to craft characters, they are both dark and frightening, yet likable.

Darkest Mercy focuses a lot on forgiveness. And as a reader I felt like I had to forgive some characters, for their actions in the previous books and for their trespasses in the course of this final installment.

I loved this book. Donia was as strong as ever and Seth continued to serve as the moral compass for the faerie courts. But there were some devastating parts. The senseless death of war was deeply felt. There were bloody battles and grief.

But Marr also has a marvelous knack for bringing her characters to the brink of doom and then getting them out of it in a way that feels natural. Darkest Mercy is dark and bloody, but it's also the most hopeful of all five books. I love the emotional ride of Darkest Mercy. Read it!

Not so little-- SISTERS RED By Jackson Pearce

2011-02-21T11:05:00.002-06:00

My, what big eyes you have!

I loved Jackson Pearce's modern retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood." In Sisters Red, Scarlett March lives for two things, hunting werewolves and protecting Rosie, her younger sister. Rosie owes Scarlett her life and forgoes school and all the trappings of a normal life to join her sister in the hunt. But unlike Scarlett, who feels most complete when she's sinking her hatchet into a wolf's belly, Rosie longs for more.

The book alternates between the two sisters' perspectives. At first Scarlett was my favorite. She's the strong one, the fighter. But as I read, I kept rooting for Rosie's happiness, even if it was at the expense of her sister's.

It took me a second to adjust to the world Pearce created. The story takes place in our world, in Atlanta, Georgia. But Scarlett and Rosie aren't really a part of the world you and I know. They live in a cottage in the woods, and walk everywhere, and don't work or go to school, and have a woodsman for a neighbor, and hunt werewolves, and don't have cell phones. (do you have any idea how many of their problems would've been solved if they had freaking cell phones?)

But, once I figured out the whole fairy-tale world within our world thing, I was hooked. And that's a huge part of the story. Rosie wants to be part of our world so badly, while Scarlett is stuck in her own world of the hunt.

Sisters Red is bloody and ferocious as the two heroines kick some major wolf ass. Oh, I wish I could tell you my favorite ass-kicking part! But it's at the end. And a big spoiler. So, read it and you'll see.

I also loved the romance in this book. I liked how the love wasn't TOO forbidden. It felt right for the characters to be together and they didn't get all dramatic about the reasons they *shouldn't* be. I liked that. Their love felt real.

Ooh, and also, Ms. Pearce, you are the Queen of red herrings! I'm very impressed. At first, I knew. Then I was, oh wait, I'm wrong. But it turns out, I was right! Sneaky, sneaky. (Sorry Junkies, if you're confused, just go read it already).

So, if you like books with girls hacking up evil werewolves with hatchets, sisterly love, hot romance with kissing in the rain, and kick-ass girls who say, "I won't wait for the woodsman to save me." Then, what are you waiting for?

Oh, and have you seen Jackson Pearce's amazing blog? She does these great videos that are both funny and informative.

Don't judge a book by its...

2011-02-18T22:05:00.000-06:00

Hello my lovely Junkies! It seems like I've spent this week admiring the beautiful new covers of books I can't wait to read. Which is really torture for an addict, like myself. They're pretty! I want to read them! Now! But they're not out yet!

So, I figured I'd share my torment with you. Don't you just want to pet the pretty pictures?

I'm so excited for Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey. Not only is Mary amazing, but her book sounds so dark and sexy. And isn't this cover gorgeous?

Oooh, isn't this cover seductive and creepy? Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs is about 3 girls who are descendants of Medusa and must fight mythological creatures. How awesome is that? I love the simple beauty of this cover with the subtle snaking of the hair.

OK, now I'm sorry Mary and Tera, but the cover that tops them all was revealed today.

Just wow. It's similar to the Paranormalcy cover, but is darker, sexier, and more mature. Just like I hope Supernaturally will be! What? You haven't read Paranormalcy? You don't read Kiersten White's hilarious blog? I'd really recommend fixing that, ASAP.

Gateway Drugs

2011-02-10T22:35:00.000-06:00

So as part of my day-job, I teach a remedial reading class to 11th graders. Many English teachers would be disgusted with such a task, but I like it for a lot of reasons. I get to play matchmaker with teens and books. The class I teach is all about pairing students with high-interest books at their level. The program comes with loads of great books, but students also find themselves attracted to all those other books on my shelves.

I thought I'd share with you some of the books I've recommended and that have been successful with my reluctant readers. Now, this is by no means a comprehensive list and I'm not a librarian. The ALA has a complete list of YA for reluctant readers which is much better than my silly anecdotes.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
I pitched the book to my class and then started a sign-up sheet for who wanted to read it first. A few tried but it was too hard for them. But one student was determined. He was hooked by the concept and every day he'd check in with me to make sure he was understanding it. "So, she goes in her sister's place?" "So, Peeta is the boy with the bread?" "So, Haymitch is drunk?" I would nod, and smile and my heart would swell with pride that he's understanding a book above his level and at the same time I'd get to relive the amazing story with him.

anything by Sharon Draper
I had three girls who read Romiette and Julio, Tears of a Tiger, and Forged by Fire. Whoever read a book first would then ask the other one "so, where are you?" and the other girl would yell at her not to spoil it. One of these girls hated reading, hated me, hated the class. she'd never even read a picture book (or so she said) but she loved sharon Draper's books. She wanted to write her a letter. So we wrote Sharon an email and she wrote back! This student smiled for the first time all year when I handed her the printed out email from Sharon.

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Draper got those three girls hooked and they wanted more. I figured out they liked the edginess and readability of Draper's books, so I told them about 13 Reasons Why. Of course I prefaced it with a worried face and said, "hmm, I don't know, it has some language, and some sex, maybe I should ask your parents first..." that really got them clamoring. To girls fought over who would read it first, so they alternated days and each had a post-it note to save their place. They'd get mad when the other one had read farther than them. The book is short, the chapters are short, and the emotions are raw. Perfect for reluctant readers.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
I had a student who read at grade-level but said she just didn't like to read. Twilight was the only book she'd ever finished. I handed her City of Bones and she gobbled up the series. She wanted more. She said she wanted darker. I handed her Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. She made a face when I told her it was about faeries. "Trust me," I said. She came back the next day and handed me the book. "What you don't like it?" I asked. "No. I finished it. Is there another one?" Yes, yes there is. I knew then that she was hooked (insert evil laugh here). She's read half the books on my shelves.

Wake by Lisa McMann
The lyrical style and time-jumps can be tricky for some readers, but the short sections are much less an intimidating than a 30 page chapter.

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkes
The Draper girls are seniors this year and no longer my students. But sometimes they stop by and ask "got anything good?" (I really do feel like a drug dealer) They devoured Perfect Chemistry.

When I first started trying to push books on teens, I'd just try to get them to read my favorite books. but that's not how it works. I have to figure out what THEY like and find something easy enough. Not all YA is accessible for emerging readers. Many of the books I LOVE are too subtle, require the reader to make too many inferences, and are just plain too long to keep the attention of a reluctant reader. But that's ok, I love the challenge of finding something for them.

What about you junkies? Which books have you seen start an addiction?

I want to smooch ANNA and the FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins

2011-02-08T23:08:00.001-06:00

I don't read much contemporary YA. I mean, I'm not a teen, and I spend ALL day in a high school. So I get my share of the drama, the awkwardness, the gossip, the cattiness, the bullying, the bad decisions, and all the icky coming-of-age-ness. I generally don't want to read about that stuff unless there's a decent dose of magic, paranormal creatures, dystopian societies, and/or zombie apocalypses.

But enough of my fav authors who write about all those speculative things raved about Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins that I had to pick it up. I'm so glad I read this book, because I'd forgotten about all the exciting things about being a teenager.

Secret crushes! First kisses! Delightfully awkward throat-clearing while your leg brushes his and you pretend you're paying attention to the movie and not stealing glances at him in a dark movie theater!

Perkins does a brilliant job of filling us with the tingly ache of falling in love. I held my breath along with Anna as she shared her boarding school bed with Etienne. (oh, not like that! Remember that feeling? That 17-year-old feeling that if you could just sleep, JUST SLEEP, with him then your world would be complete? Sigh)

I was afraid Anna and the French Kiss would be too light and fluffy, but I was relieved to find genuine characters with real problems and a wonderfully believable romance. And even though she didn't beat-up vampires or kick zombie-ass, Anna is still a strong heroine who holds her own.

So, my challenge to you junkies: What other YA contemporaries do you recommend?

So, what does it all mean?

2011-02-03T09:38:00.003-06:00

First of all, I want to thank you all so much for the support, the congratulations, the confetti, and the exclamation points when I announced my news the other day. Thank you. You're awesome. You're writers. You get it.

The reactions from my family and friends when I told them I have an agent, have been pretty interesting. To be fair, most people didn't know I'd written a book, let alone that I was querying agents, so it's not like I'd really discussed the process with them before.

But one friend said, "Wow. That's great. I wrote a book in 1st grade. Do you think it could get published?" (no joke)

Another friend said, "Well, just make sure they don't screw up the movie version of your book. Learn from JK Rowling and keep control over the movie. Because you really don't want them screwing it up like they did with Percy Jackson." (noted)

A family member immediately started lamenting what a failure she was in life and how she's never accomplished anything. (awkward)

But most people ask the same question, "When can I buy your book?"

And my response is usually something like, "Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves here." or "I'm just trying to take it one step at a time."

But people don't get it. They think I'm being defeatist or self-depracating or pessimistic by not telling them the publication date of my book. So then I try to explain the publishing process and their eyes glaze over. So, I've come up with an analogy to help you out, when your time comes to tell your non-writer friends your good news.

Being an unpublished, un-agented, amateur writer is like being stranded on a desert island. You don't bathe, you eat nothing but nuts and berries, and you spend your time talking to volleyballs. All you want is to go home and sleep in your warm bed (to be published).

So, you light signal fires and spell out "HELP" with rocks on the shore (you send out query letters). But most of the time, you feel like the world is too big and you're too small and you'll never be rescued.

An agent is your rescue. It might be a speedy helicopter or a slow foreign fishing boat with people who don't speak your language, but it's rescue! You're off the island, you're on your way home! You could never get home without this rescue.

Now, just like all rescues are not the same, not all book deals are the same. It might be all you've hoped and dreamed of and you'll sleep soundly in your own bed for the rest of your life. Or you might go home to discover the love of your life has married someone else. Or you might go home only to discover that the island NEEDS you and you have to go back, but when you go back, you go back in time, and the smoke monster kills everyone, and you find out you were all dead all along. What the hell, LOST? I'm still pissed. Anyway, you get where I'm going.

Your agent is your rescue, your life raft, your Coast Guard helicopter. It's not where you want to be yet, but you cant go anywhere without him.

I fell in love with THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff

2011-02-01T11:05:00.003-06:00

OK Junkies, I'm breaking my own rules to tell you about how awesome The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff is, even though the main character is a boy. But the girls in this book kick so much ass that I really think it makes up for it.

Mackie Doyle isn't like the rest of the people in Gentry, his small and gloomy town. Actually, Mackie isn't even human. His parents know it. His sister knows it. His best friend knows it. Half the town might suspect it, but NO ONE talks about it.

In Gentry, babies sometimes get sick and die. But the bodies in the tiny coffins aren't really the grieving parents' offspring. They're replacements.

The creatures who live beneath the slag heap steal human babies and replace them with their own sick children. The replacements all die in their cribs. All except Mackie.

Thanks to his sister's love, Mackie has survived and grown into a teenager. But he lives in fear that the town will learn his secret and persecute him. He does his best to blend in, to be invisible. He doesn't want to think or talk about the truth anymore than the next citizen of Gentry.

But when Tate's younger sister dies, she knows the corpse is not her sister. Tate challenges Mackie to acknowledge who he is and how he can help.

One of the things I love about this book is that Mackie is not a typical hero. He's not brave, or strong, or selfless, or any of the things we expect our heroes to be. Mackie is sickly, poisoned by the iron in the world around him. Sometimes he can barely walk into a room without swooning, let alone fight off bad guys. Also, all Mackie wants is to blend in, be left alone, and survive. He stonewalls Tate to protect himself and at first he won't stick out his neck for anyone.

So that's where the girls come in. Erin, Mackie's sister, will do anything to protect Mackie. She puts herself in danger to save him and her strong love is what has kept him alive in a world his body rejects. And Tate definitely earns the title of kick-ass heroine. I don't want to spoil all the ways she kicks ass, but let's just say she's not afraid to hurt someone in order to protect herself and save her sister.

Tate is fierce. She won't keep quiet, she won't put up with Mackie's crap. She won't back down. I love her.

The Replacement is a dark, creepy story. I mean, how much creepier can you get than dead babies? But there are also tons of universal themes. I think every teenager has felt the urge to just fit in and be unnoticed, the strong desire to be just like everyone else. And I know I've definitely felt like an outsider in my own family and maybe even wondered, was I replaced at birth?

Read The Replacement. You won't be disappointed.

Ummm so, I got THE CALL!!!!

2011-01-29T17:23:00.000-06:00

Squeee!!!! I have news!

I am now represented by Jim McCarthy from Dystel & Goderich Literary Management!!!!

Ok, I really have to stop with the exclamation points, but !!!!!
so, how did this happen, you ask?
Well, let me break it down for you.

For those searching for an agent, a piece of advice we often hear is "query agents who represent books you love." Can I just say that this is the BEST advice ever?

As you know, I LOVED The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan. So, I queried Jim McCarthy, Carrie's agent, on 1/2. Jim requested the full manuscript on 1/10 and I got The Call on 1/19.

Being the studious agent-stalker, ahem, I mean researcher I am, I mean was, I knew Jim usually read manuscripts in about a week (he's super fast). So, when a week had passed since I'd sent the full and I hadn't received a rejection, I was hopeful.

My cell phone rang on 1/19 in between 5th and 6th period (I teach high school). I glanced at the number, saw the 212 area code and thought, "Is that New York? Maybe it's Jim McCarthy calling to offer representation. Oh, hahahaha, Alyson you are SO funny." I declined the call. My students were walking in.

When I finally listened to the message, my head nearly exploded. It was like slow-motion. I kept looking around waiting for someone to say "just kidding." But all the message said was to call him back and I was completely unprepared.

I stayed after school helping a student. I went home. I paced, I had a snack so I wouldn't throw up. I looked up the right questions to ask. I called back. Voicemail. I don't know how, but I slept that night.

The next morning, I had an email from Jim saying he was sorry he missed me and when could we chat? I called him during my off-period. I locked my classroom door and closed the blinds. I paced among the desks and stammered.

Just hearing Jim say my title and how much he loved it, hearing him say my characters' names, hearing him talk about my book as if it was just that: an actual book, was such an enormous validation. I was no longer some crazy girl with people in her head, mumbling to herself in a corner with a laptop.

I was a blabbering idiot on the phone. "Umm, yeah, oh my god, yeah, thank you, umm, I'm exited, umm," but I tried to ask my list of questions. When he offered representation it took all my strength not to jump up and down and scream. Two other agents had the manuscript.

I emailed the other 2 agents, letting them know of the offer and that I wanted to make a final decision in a week. One of the other agents offered and I spoke with her on the phone, but it was never a difficult decision. I mean OMG, I have the same agent as Carrie Ryan! OK, I also have the same agent as many really amazing writers whose books have now moved to the top of my TBR pile. But like, I totally want to be Carrie Ryan when I grow up! (oops sorry, does that sound stalkerish? I'm not a creeper, I swear).

OK Junkies, thanks for letting me share my news! Good luck to all those queriers out there. It can happen, don't give up!

MATCHED by Ally Condie lives up to the hype

2011-01-12T20:29:00.000-06:00

I don't know why I'm always surprised when I fall in love with the latest hyped-up, buzzed-about YA novel. I guess all you bookish people on the interwebs are pretty awesome and I should really learn to trust you. And because y'all are so awesome, one of my goals for the new year is to spend more time with you and blog more. I really feel like the guy at work who calls in sick EVERY Monday and then on Tuesday in the lunch room, everyone asks if he's feeling ok and he just looks away, nods, and changes the subject.

Soooo anyways....Matched! It's awesome! You should read it.

Ally Condie creates a dystopian world reminiscent of the classics. The Society incinerates history, art, and literature a la Fahrenheit 451. Similar to A Brave New World, citizens are controlled through extreme division of labor, regimented recreation, and mandated drugs. The pervasive technology, misinformation, a mysterious and far away war, and the ever-present sense of being watched reminded me of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

But Matched leaves the classics in the dust and gives us what they don't: a strong heroine, passionate romance, and hope.

We meet Cassia on the eve of her Match banquet, where she'll find out who the society has matched her with for marriage. The other 17-year-olds meet their matches from other cities and provinces via video phone. But Cassia's screen is black because her match is in the same room. It's her best friend, Xander. She's thrilled, but when she takes her microcard home to learn more about her match, another face flashes on the screen. Cassia confides in the only person she can, her grandfather, and he asks if she ever wonders...

Cassia's rebellion starts small and is thrilling to watch as it grows. In the beginning, she honestly believes the Society knows best, but slowly she pulls back the curtain to catch a glimpse of the man behind the wizard.

The Society differs from other dystopian governments in that it seems to actually believe it's acting in its citizens best interests. For me, a good-intentioned but misguided fascist government is way more terrifying than a malicious one. Cassia is savvy, intelligent, and tough enough to outsmart the oppressive Society. And it's so much fun watching her do it.

Cassia experiences her first real choice and gets a small taste for freedom, which leaves her willing to risk everything for more. Classic dystopian novels present characters with a life in which happiness and fulfillment are impossible. Matched is wonderfully brave in that contentment is easily attainable for Cassia within The Society's walls. Cassia knows she could have a loving marriage, a job she likes and is good at, and a happy healthy family if only she shuts up and goes along with The Society's plan for her.

But she's courageous enough to not settle and want more: true love. And isn't that what all the best stories are about? The battle for true love?

I read Matched during my ski vacation and I found myself on a chair lift, anxious to get back to see how Cassia will get herself out of trouble. Matched is hard to put down and I recommend it to any fans of YA and/or Dystopia.

Books that kick ass despite being about boys

2010-11-19T12:29:00.001-06:00

When I started this seldom-updated blog, my mission was to write about books featuring strong girls. Not so much in opposition to books about boys, as much as in opposition to books about weak girls who are saved by boy strong boys.

But because of this mission, I often refrain from gushing about a book that knocks my socks off simply because it's not about a strong heroine. But I just read T.H. Mafi's post and was totally inspired.

So for this post, I'm going to share with you my story of how I met my "magical friend" and give you my official list of "Books About Boys that Rocked My World."

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone came out when I was in high school. Of course I didn't read it. It's a children's book and I was a teenager and thus stayed away from anything that could pin me as a child.

I had heard all about Harry Potter, who hadn't? But it just seemed so silly. I even saw the first movie, but was not all that impressed. It was long and had this silly sport on broomsticks.

I didn't start reading Harry Potter until grad school. I was student-teaching in an 8th grade class and found that every student had Potter on the brain. They talked about muggles and Quidditch, and I just didn't get it.  It was like a different language. I couldn't relate.

So, in an effort to be a better teacher, I started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I was hooked.  Any scrap of free-time was now filled with Hogwarts.

I was earning my masters while student teaching.  I was the busiest and most exhausted I'd ever been in my life and all I could think about was getting home to bed with my cat and some tea so I could be swept away to Hogwarts.

I was amazed by how immersed in that other world I became. I was shocked by how strongly I felt for these characters. (I'm still not over Sirius).  It was truly magical. And it was the gateway drug.

Harry Potter led to Lemony Snicket which led to The Golden Compass and all of a sudden this huge world of YA literature opened up to me.  My childhood ambition to be a children's fantasy writer was reignited.
I was teaching and writing my masters's thesis, while wishing I could write about kids with magical powers. But my career was already set, so I didn't give writing much *serious* thought. Plus, how does anyone go about becoming a "writer" anyway? I was going to be a teacher.

Eight years later and that ambition has not faded, but grown. As much as I love my students, I wish I could spend more time writing stories for them to get lost in instead of preparing them for state tests. So I lead a double life, teaching and writing.

Part of me wishes that I had read Harry Potter when I was in high school. Maybe I would have recognized my dream then. Maybe I could have chosen a sensible path to writer-dom and majored in literature and gotten my MFA or gone into publishing or...something. Maybe things wouldn't seem so hard now. Or maybe I needed my adult brain to understand and appreciate the best children's literature.

All I know is, today a student mentioned "Harry Potter's owl" and I felt an immediate tightening in my chest. I know Hedwig's fate and like most parts of this next Potter film, I'm both anticipating and dreading it.

So, in celebration of the latest Potter film, here is--in no particular order--my list of
Books About Boys that Rocked my World

The entire Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling (if you don't like it, then we can't be friends. That simple)

The entire Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan (I've heard it criticized for being too similar to Potter. But in the same vein, Potter can be criticized for being similar to Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. It's the epic hero's journey, people! The greatest story ever told (over and over again). So, to the critics I say: shut up and go read some Joseph Campbell)

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (not YA, and not a strong girl to be found, but a damn good book)

Looking for Alaska by John Green (if you consider yourself a fan of YA and have not read this, then you need to correct that problem immediately)

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (people say boys don't read. Have you tried giving them this?)

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (ah-may-zing. Can't really say if it's about a boy, and ain't that the point? this is a contemporary hero's journey)

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (some make fun of it for being pretentious, but that doesn't make this novel any less brilliant)

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (not a novel, but another book that pushed me over he edge and got me to actually sit down and start writing)

That's my list. What's yours?

Rooting for the dark side in PERSONAL DEMONS by Lisa Desrochers

2010-11-13T21:38:00.000-06:00

For some reason, the cover of Lisa Desrochers's Personal Demons didn't strike me as YA. And being the idiot I am, this prevented me from reading it at first. Even the hubby saw the book on my nightstand and said, "What? You're reading porn now?" (Ok, hubby is definitely NOT an expert on all things literary). All I'm saying is, listen to your mom and don't judge a book by its cover.

Personal Demons is the best angel/demon book I've read. I loved that we got two perspectives: Fanny, the heroine's, and Luc's, the demon who's trying to tag her soul for hell.

I also loved that--unlike most paranormal romances--we don't spend half the book trying to figure out what kind of paranormal creature the hot new guy at school is, and what he wants. We know on page 2 that Luc is a demon and he wants Fanny's soul in hell. Fair enough.

It's hard for one's personal theology not to influence the reading of a book about hell, demons, angels, and heaven. Luc is such a steamy character and the chemistry between him and Fanny is so hot, that it didn't take long for me to root for the demon. Even when Luc himself hesitates in marking Fanny for eternal damnation, I was thinking, "Come on! Just drag her to hell! You can burn eternally together!" Maybe more devout readers didn't go that far.

This book definitely gets better and better, the farther you get into it. At first I was annoyed because Fanny's brain seemed to turn to mush when she was around Gabe and Luc (the two hot "new" guys in town). I kept thinking, "OK, no one's THAT hot that you can't form coherent sentences." But then I realized that it was Gabe's angelic and Luc's demonic powers that set Fanny's hormones
and thoughts all a flutter.

Then Luc started acting funny too and I thought, "OK, in his thousands of years of existence, this dude has to have seen a pretty girl, what's his deal?" And this is the best part. Luc acts strange around Fanny because she has a power that blows both his and Gabe's abilities out of the water. You know I love me a powerful female.

The potential of Fanny's power and the spicy hot scenes with Luc kept me up at night reading. Again, it was kind of strange rooting for Fanny to turn to the dark side. "Come on Fanny, sleep with the demon already! Commit the mortal sin of lust! An eternity in hell is SO worth it! He's so hot!" This is definitely one of the sexiest YA novels I've read in a while.

Personal Demons does not read as young as other YA books, but since I'm a grown-up reading YA, I really didn't mind. But if you're a 15-year-old looking for a story with prom, cheerleaders, and tons of teen angst, then this might not be the book for you. Other than that, I'd recommend Personal Demons to any fan of the paranormal romance genre.

I can't wait to see what Fanny does with her power in the sequel, Original Sin.

To NaNo or not to NaNo?

2010-10-21T21:08:00.001-05:00

Hello Junkies! Oh, how I've missed you!

I've been revising my little (well, not so little) tooshie off and doing a whole lot more writing than reading.

And all this writing and revising brings me to my latest conundrum: to NaNo or not to NaNo? I'll admit it, I'm a NaNo virgin.

As you probably all know, November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal is for writers across the country to turn off their inner editors and write copious amounts of fiction with reckless abandon. The specific goal is 50,000 words in 30 days.

Every November for the last couple of years, I've watched others participate in the project and I've had the same reaction year after year: Aww, aren't they cute?

Last year, two of my co-workers (fellow English teachers) sent out an email explaining NaNoWriMo, pledging their goals, and inviting others to participate.

I scoffed. I'm a real writer. I've been banging my head against the keyboard every single day for years. I don't need a designated month to pretend to be a writer.

My coworkers went on to talk about their "novels" they wrote in November. They had family members actually read their NaNo draft! Scoff, scoff, scoff.

This all seemed so silly. I'm a serious writer (don't even say writing about kids with magic powers is not serious). I don't need some internet uncontest in order to torture myself over prose. I do that everyday anyway.

But the thing is, I kind of want to do it.

I'm currently querying agents for a ms, so my revising is done for now and I really need something to prevent me from going crazy checking my email every ten seconds. And I have this new bright shiny idea I want to play with. Part of me thinks it's a stupid, unmarketable idea, but I can spare a month to see where it goes, right?

But what about all my scoffing? Am I cheapening myself as a writer by participating? (ok, I'm an unagented, unpublished writer, so really I'm already as cheapened as they come).

But the interwebs are full of positive tid bits promoting NaNo.

Did you know Carrie Ryan wrote the first draft of The Forest of Hands and Teeth as a NaNo project? I love The Forest of Hands and Teeth!

And I'm all about the shitty first draft philosophy. I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pantser and for me it's about just getting SOMETHING on the page to work with when writing a first (or second, or third...) draft. And that's what NaNo's all about, right?

Then I stumbled across this image from commenter Kristen on Nathan Bransford's post about NaNo.

Well, I take my novel-writing seriously. And I've finished two novels, but I've never had writing deadlines, so the latter is definitely scarier. What's a girl to do?

Also, the public aspect of NaNo frightens me. I believe in Stephen King's advice from On Writing: "Write with the door closed. Revise with the door open."

My first drafts are so private. I don't even like trying to explain what I'm writing about until I'm ready to pitch. I'm afraid I'll feel like I'm peeing with the door open if I'm constantly posting word counts and such.

And what about my scoffing? How hypocritical am I if I do NaNo after all my internal scoffing? (ok, there's lots of reasons I could be considered hypocritical, but still)

But then see inspiring videos like the one below from Jackson Pearce that make me start jumping in my seat and whining, "I wanna do it Tooooooo."

When it comes down to it, these are my concerns:

What if I fail? I'm not good at failing. I know this is supposed to be an everyone is a winner type of thing, but if I commit to doing this and don't have 50,000 words by Novemeber 30th, then I'll probably hate myself a little. At least for a day or two.

Really, I don't have time. But then again, that's never stopped me from doing anything.

What if the other NaNoers don't like me? (I did scoff at them) I keep hearing about this great NaNo community, which only triggers my social phobia/paranoia. What if I'm rejected by the NaNo clique?

OK, so I'd love to hear from experienced NaNo participants. Should I do it? Are there other NaNo virgins out there thinking of going all the way?

Evie tases her way to normal in PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White

2010-09-25T10:20:00.001-05:00

So, sometimes when there's tons of hype surrounding a book, I'm tempted to automatically discount it. It can't be THAT good right?

So I'd heard Paranormalcy by Kiersten White was funny. I'd heard Evie, the teen heroine, used a pink sparkly taser to "bag and tag" vampires. I'd heard the book poked fun at the whole paranormal romance genre.

Guess what? The peoples on the interwebs were right!

One quick stop at Kiersten White's amazing blog will confirm that this chick is funny. Paranormalcy has the same light-hearted tone as White's blog, which is awesome.

Paranormalcy reminded me of the movie Clueless, in a way. The main character and plot seem very superficial at first. But it's written so intelligently that you can't help but laugh and root for the heroine as she learns to be less selfish and discovers something deeper about herself and about life.

I loved how White threw in a few jabs at YA vampire romances. The opening scene is hilarious as Evie tases a vamp and rants about how ridiculous it is that vampires think they're sexy. She even uses the word "shimmery" to describe a vampire in an ironic way and I couldn't help but think of that as a direct poke at a certain franchise. I also loved when, towards the end of the book, a vampire tells Evie, "Why on earth would a vampire go to high school?" Hilarious!

The romance is so sweet and refreshing. There was no I-love-you-but-kind-of-want-to-kill-you, No I-love-you-but-our-love-will-probably-destroy-the-universe, and No I-love-you-but-I'm-so-damaged-from-my-hundred-year-old-past-so-I'm-really-mean-to-you.

It was more like, I-really-like-you-I-hope-your-dad-doesn't-catch-us-making-out-on-the-couch and then some I-think-I-love-you-but-I hope-you-accept-me-for-who-I-am-with-all-my-weirdness.

White shows us that we can have a paranormal novel with NORMAL teens. We can read about teens who get grounded, love shopping sprees, eat pizza, and go to prom. They also happen to have paranormal abilities and, you know, murderous faeries hunting them.

If you love paranormal romaces, or hate them, read Paranormalcy. You won't be disappointed.

I can't wait for Supernaturally!

Janie does it in her sleep in WAKE by Lisa McMann

2010-09-11T10:48:00.000-05:00

Like any good addict, I have crazy dreams. I fly, I swim, I bounce around from place to place. I was a little disappointed with Inception and how normal the dreams were.

In Wake by Lisa McMann, Janie is sucked into people's dreams. I loved the lyrical style of the book, especially the beginning when we slip in and out of people's dreams with Janie. Our dreams can be very intimate and revealing, but McMann didn't hold back in describing the sleeping images flashing through teenagers' heads.

I also enjoyed the love story. Cabel is my new literary crush, who knew scars could be so sexy?

I really enjoyed the first half of the book. But the second half started becoming too unbelievable for me.

SPOILER ALERT!

I just didn't buy that Cabel was an undercover teenage cop. The way that was handled came across as very unbelievable to me. Sure, I can believe a girl can slip into someone's dreams and control them, but I can't believe law enforcement would behave that way.

But the well written dream sequences and the realistic romance were enough for me to enjoy Wake.

The sequel, Fade, on the other hand is a different story. As a high school teacher, I can be very picky about the way high school is portrayed in YA. High schools are already dramatic conflict-flled places, we don't need over-the-top and outlandish crimes to be committed in order for teenagers to experience conflict and feel unsafe.

I thought Fade was completely unrealistic. I get it, it's a fantasy, but if the story is based in the real-world, I need something real in that world to hold on to.

There are teachers who do horrible things. We didn't need the over-the-top, sensationalized villainy in order for Janie to be in danger. I think the story would've been scarier if the high school setting was more realistic.

I also didn't buy the conflict between Cabel and Janie. It wasn't consistent with Cabel's character and teenagers aren't usually that cognizant of their feelings and why they behave the way they do.

I liked Wake, but was disappointed with Fade. I won't be reading Gone unless someone convinces me it has at least one foot in reality.

Cat Killer?

2010-09-03T22:48:00.001-05:00

OK Junkies, I need some help. I'm stuck. All because of a cat corpse.

At our last meeting, my critique group hated the chapter I'd submitted. I've never received such a negative response. You see, in the chapter they read, a little girl accidentally kills her cat.

"You can't kill a cat!" They shouted.
"Do you have to describe the cat corpse?" They asked.
"Really? A dead cat? You really want to do that?"

I didn't understand. What's the problem? That same night we read about dead grandmothers, suicidal rock stars, and murdered scientists. Why couldn't I have a dead cat?

They informed me that people will hate me and hate my book if I kill a cat. This seemed to be a basic rule of good craft everyone knew but me. Show, don't tell. Omit needless words. No passive voice. And don't kill any cats.

Basically, by killing a cat, I was killing my writing career. They told me there's even a book on screenwriting called Save the Cat! The book states that all you have to do to sell your screenplay is not kill any cats. (I haven't read the book, but I'm pretty sure that's what it says).

I tried not to get defensive. I tried to listen to their feedback, to process it, to see which direction my revisions should take. And then I realized it. I kill TWO cats in my WIP. (And a baby bird, but I'm sure there's no rule on baby birds).

Well, I decided to stick to my guns. I blew off the advice of my critique group. They're probably all just crazy cat people or something.

Then I went to another meeting, with a different group of writers. We discussed the atrocities of dead dogs in children's literature.

One writer even talked about an appalling scene in an adult novel. She mentioned an extremely popular adult trilogy. "I almost had to stop reading when they killed the cat! It was just awful!"

I happened to have recently read the book she was talking about. You mean the same book where the main character is raped and tortured in a graphic scene that has NOTHING to do with the plot? You mean the same novel where dozens of women are raped and murdered, but the characters are more concerned about the Swedish stock-market? You almost stopped reading because of the dead cat?

What's wrong with these people?

Then last week, I read Mockingjay. SPOILER ALERT!

Of all the characters Collins killed, she saved the cat. Buttercup survived. Maybe there's something to this Save-the-cat theory. After all, Rowling killed Hedwig but spared Crookshanks.
END SPOILER

It's not like I'm some sadistic animal hater. My dog and my cat are my only children. I'm a freakin' vegetarian! I don't eat animals, I just kill them in my fiction (but for important plot and character reasons, I totally swear.) I just don't get why people seem to be more sensitive to the death of animals than to the death of humans in fiction.

So what do you think Junkies?
Do you hate books with dead cats?
Can anyone explain this never-kill-a-cat rule?

Is my WIP doomed if I kill a cat? If I kill two?
Could I change my dead cats to dead dogs? dead babies?

Well, I might keep my dead cats because when the rejections for my MS start rolling in, at least I can blame it on the dead kitties, right?

*photo from here

Some spoiler-free thoughts on Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

2010-08-29T21:28:00.002-05:00

So, I feel like I can't really do Mockingjay justice in a review, and I don't want to give away any spoilers. And more than writing a review, what I really need is a freakin' therapy session after that speed train of emotion.

I think Mockingjay is by far the best book in Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games trilogy. The three books ask: what does it do to us when we kill another person, even in self-defense? The Hunger Games touched on this theme, Catching Fire pushed it a little further, but Mockingjay blew it wide open.

As another character points out, Katniss is not the same girl who volunteered to take her sister's place at the reaping. She's permanently and irrevocably scarred by the violence she's experienced and produced. What I love is that even though she has nightmares and is sometimes "disoriented" she is in no way a victim. Katniss is traumatized not by what's been done to her, but by the choices she's made. I don't think she regrets any life she took to save herself, but that doesn't mean she sleeps well at night.

All the Victors are a wreck. I love how in the beginning of The Hunger Games, Katniss views Haymitch as this pathetic creature who hides from life in the bottom of a bottle. In Mockingjay, Katniss and Haymitch don't seem very different, Katniss even wishes for her own bottle at one point.

I thought Peeta's character arc was brilliant. So much more heartbreaking than a typical love-triangle or the who-do-I-save dilemma I thought it was going to be.

I know some people are disappointed with the ending, but frankly I think those are the same people who are disappointed with life. Collins's world and Katniss's story are so devastating because they are so real. Collins doesn't pull any punches. Katniss is, above everything else, a survivor. And just like President Snow, Collins pushes Katniss to her breaking point.

I white-knuckled it, holding on with Katniss through her harrowing journey, not knowing what to even hope for at the end. But some damage cannot be undone. We still pick up the pieces and salvage what we can of our lives. If reader's don't like Mockingjay's ending it's because it's too true.

The story is so critical of war and vengeance that I cried not just for the characters, but for humanity. We sacrifice our children to overthrow dictators, only to replace them with more dictators. We kill a few to save the many, over and over, and over again until we can't remember who we're saving and who we're fighting.

This book is amazing, but it drained me. What are your thoughts? Anything light and fluffy to recommend for recovery reading?

Claudia is ruthless in INCARCERON by Catherine Fisher

2010-07-20T22:29:00.000-05:00

OK Junkies, I'm bending some of my own rules here. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher has two main characters. The story is alternately narrated by Claudia and Finn. Sure, Claudia is the heroine of the story, but it's hard for me to focus only on her when Finn is so much more likable.

Claudia and Finn are each trapped in prisons that are worlds apart.

Three years ago, Finn woke in a cell with no memory of his previous life and the red eyes of Incarceron have been watching him ever since. Finn has seizures in which he glimpses a world outside of the living prison. Other prisoners call him a starseer and most consider him crazy. Incarceron is limitless in its mechanization and ability to control the prisoners while reproducing itself. Most prisoners know what Finn refuses to admit: there is no world outside of Incarceron.

Claudia's father is the power-hungry and unscrupulous Warden of Incarceron. The prison was sealed years ago, no one goes in and no one comes out. The Warden is the only person who knows its location. Despite the existence of advanced technology, Claudia's world has been frozen in time and Protocol is strictly enforced. The rules of Protocol dictate everyone must speak, dress, and use objects from a time reminiscent of Victorian England.

But Protocol is only one bar in Claudia's prison. Her father raised her to be a political pawn. She's betrothed to a prince and the Warden will use his daughter to secure power. At first, Claudia accepts her part to play in the political game. She is so used to hiding her true feelings and playing mind games, that she forgets who she is.

Even though Finn is the thief and violent gang-member, Claudia is the ruthless one and she strays farther from her moral compass. I couldn't help but like Finn so much more.

This story read like a wicked fairy-tale. It's Rapunzel, the Prince and the Pauper, and Alice in Wonderland all rolled into one.

Catherine Fisher does a brilliant job of creating tension in each scene as Claudia and Finn discover each other and work towards what seems impossible: Escape. Finn's prison is terrifying as is the Queen Claudia works to subvert. I ended each chapter with my heart pounding. The shackles squeezed tighter and tighter with each scene and escape seemed less and less possible.

The ending was a little disappointing. After all the nail-biting tension, I feel like it just kind of fizzled out. But that's probably because there's going to be a sequel.

Incarceron is a dark and intense ride and I can't wait for Sapphique.

Ai Ling has some kick-ass spirit in SILVER PHOENIX by Cindy Pon

2010-07-14T00:40:00.000-05:00

Silver Phoenix has been on my radar for a while, but I never found it in book stores. Eventually I ordered it on Amazon. It rose to the top of my TBR pile when I heard about the controversy over the new cover and I learned that Barnes & Noble and Borders never ordered the book with the original cover because it was too Asian.

Well some really smart people lament this horrible example of institutional racism better than I can. But I just want to say, this book-buying-white-girl loved Silver Phoenix in all its Chinese splendor.

Ai Ling is the daughter of a scholar who was exiled from the Emperor's palace before she was born. She wants to be a good daughter and honor her parents, but she has qualms about entering into an arranged marriage. Unlike most girls in Xia, Ai Ling can read and write. Without her father's knowledge, she's read all about mythical monsters in The Book of the Dead.

Ai Ling's father is summoned to the palace, but gives her a jade pendant before he goes. When he doesn't return, Ai Ling decides to travel to the palace and bring him home. So what if decorum dictates that single women shouldn't travel alone?

On her journey, Ai Ling discovers the monsters from The Book of the Dead are much more than myths. Ai Ling survives a demon attach thanks to her jade pendant and the courage of her spirit.

While traveling, Ai Ling crosses paths with Chen Yong, a young man whose fate has been intertwined with hers since before she was born. They continue towards the palace together and embark on an adventure to fulfill their destinies.

I love how Ai Ling is a kick-ass heroine in a world that expects women to be seen and not heard. Sure Chen Yong saves her the first time they meet, but pretty soon she does most of the saving and ass kicking. I also loved the reincarnation/ancestor-worship/spiritual stuff interwoven throughout the fantasy.

In some ways this is a road-trip story. Some friends travel to the palace and of course get side-tracked and have adventures along the way. Of course, it's also a coming-of-age story as Ai Ling discovers her own strength. I love how Ai Ling is not shy about eating and the descriptions of food made my mouth water. The sexual tension between Ai Ling and Chen Yong definitely left me hankering for the sequel, Fury of the Phoenix.

Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon is a great fantasy and a quick read. Buy the beautiful original cover before they're all gone!

Hanna is crazy beautiful in BLEEDING VIOLET by Dia Reeves

2010-07-06T14:35:00.000-05:00

This book is weird.
Don't get me wrong, I love weird. Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves is a welcome relief from the swooning damsels, vampires, and werewolves plaguing the paranormal YA world.

Hanna talks to her dad everyday, even though he's been dead a year. Hanna is bi-polar and has the stash of pharmaceuticals to prove it. When threatened with hospitalization, Hanna beats her Aunt over the head with a rolling pin and flees to find her long lost mother.

When Hanna shows up on her mom's door step in Portrero, Texas, Rosalee is anything but happy to see her. Hanna is determined to stay in Rosalee's house and make Portrero her home, no matter how many times Rosalee say she doesn't want her.

They strike a deal. If Hanna can survive two weeks in Portrero--a town stranger and more dangerous than any of Hanna's hallucinations--then Hanna can stay.

Hanna encounters monsters lurking in the windows of her school, flying leeches on a walk home, and a man possessed by a serial-killing ghost while on a date. Instead of running and screaming, Hanna decides she needs to hunt down a monster to prove her worth to Rosalee. Hanna enlists the help of Wyatt, the cute boy sworn to protect the town and who is even freakier than Hanna.

I love Hanna's character in this book. Her wild mood swings are fun and she's not easily rejected, no matter how many times her mother tells her she doesn't love her.

Hanna narrates the story through her girlish voice and overly simple view of the world. And that's where it got weird. These characters curse, have sex, and rip people's arms off, and it's all narrated in this childish tone.

The amount of blood in this book became so surreal that I stopped being concerned each time a character opened a vein.

But that didn't stop this from being a really fun read. I whipped through the pages. I enjoyed losing myself in Hanna's warped head and I stopped guessing what would come next.

Bleeding Violet is a great summer read.

Amy is the key in THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin

2010-06-29T15:03:00.000-05:00

Post-apocalyptic novels are hot right now.
Some of these books make me think, "Wow, this is fun. Glad it could totally never happen."
Some of these books make me think, "Ooh depressing. I hope I'm not around if this ever happens."
Then there's The Passage by Justin Cronin. This book made me want to buy a shotgun, hoard water, and start digging an underground shelter.

The story starts about five years in the future, in a crappier but predictable version of the U.S. A grieving scientist has discovered a unique virus in the South American rain forest. This virus can cure cancer and reverses the aging process, along with some other side-effects that the military will kill to get its hands on.

The virus is brought back to a secret compound hidden in the Colorado rockies. The virus is tested on those who society won't miss, death-row inmates.

It's Brad Wolgast's job to find the inmates, get them to sign their lives away, and bring them back to Colorado. He's pretty much ok with this until he's asked to bring in Amy, a six-year-old girl.

Of course, something goes wrong and the infected inmates escape. The virus and its violence spread rapidly across the U.S. Amy may be humanity's only hope.

OK Junkies, I'll stop myself because I really don't want to spoil anything.

But you must read this book. I know, it's like 800 pages and you could probably throw your back out from carrying it around. But it's so worth it.

Did I mention it's jam-packed with bad-ass heroines?

There's Alicia, the ruthless fighter who kicks viral ass better than anyone.
There's Sara, the strong nurse who never flinches away from death.
There's Mausami, willing to risk everything for the man she loves.
There's Sister Lacy, willing to die for her cause.

And of course, there's Amy.

Read The Passage and stop by to tell me what you think.

Oh, for those of you who've already read it, check out this site with Blair Witch type videos.

Give aways!

2010-06-08T14:22:00.000-05:00

Check out YA Highway's BEA Book Give Away. There are at least 3 books on that list that I'm hankering for.

Sadie Sasses in The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

2010-06-02T21:52:00.001-05:00

OK Junkies, so I'm gonna let you in on a secret. I love the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I know, I know, it's about a boy, but there are some tough chicks, and I'm a total sucker for both Greek mythology and the hero's journey archetype. Don't worry, I won't blab about The Lightning Thief, other than to say, read it.

But I was pretty excited when my dad sent me Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid. Now, I don't know my Egyptian history like I know my Greek stuff, but my History-Channel-watching-hubby was happy to fill me in on tid-bits, like Khufu, the baboon, was named after a pharoah.

The Red Pyramid is doubly cool, because instead of one young hero, we get two. Carter and Sadie Kane are brother and sister who have only seen each other once a year since their mom died six years ago. Carter travels the world with his dad, Julius, an archaeologist/Egyptologist. Sadie lives with their maternal grandparents in London.

At least, those are their living arrangements until their dad blows up the Rosetta Stone on Christmas Eve, releasing 5 Egyptian gods, imprisoning himself in a sarcophagus along with the spirit of Osiris, and leaving Carter and Sadie to save the world.

Carter and Sadie alternate telling the story from their perspective. Although Carter is older and he starts and ends the novel, Sadie is the actual hero. Sadie is the tough, brave one who sees past the adults' BS.

Carter has the knowledge of the Egypt stuff and arguably more to lose, because he's so close to the now-imprisoned dad, but Sadie follows more of the archetypal hero's arc.

Sadie's past and parentage are mysterious. She has a mentor who teaches her how to use her power and is then killed. And ultimately, Carter learns how to swing a sword, but it's Sadie who has all the real power. In the end, Sadie must make all the difficult choices, and Sadie must determine the fate of the world and break a dangerous cycle.

Sadie feels abandoned by and resentment towards her absent parents, but she must move past that to tap her inner strength and save the world. Sadie is the hero of this story, because it is Sadie who sacrifices so much to make the right decisions.

Like Riordan's other books, The Red Pyramid is a story about the battle of good and evil. But what I love about this book is that the lines between the two sides aren't always clear.

The Red Pyramid is a long-ass middle grade book, but the story is worth every page. I will definitely be reading the next installment of the Kane Chronicles.

Oh, and Junkies, P.S.:
This is my official entry into The People of Color Reading Challenge. I'm going to say I'll go for level 2 and read at least 5 books this year about or by people of color, but I really hope to do more.

Melinda learns to in SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson

2010-05-14T22:42:00.001-05:00

OK Junkies, so Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson has been on my radar for a while, but there were a few reasons that I resisted reading it.

The cover kind of creeped me out.
I knew it was about rape.
I knew Kristen Stewart starred in a Lifetime movie version of the book.
The students in my remedial reading class said it was boring.
I flipped through the pages and it LOOKED boring.

I know, "don't judge a book by its cover" but I do, Junkies, I do, I can't help it. I get this idea in my head about books that I haven't read. But sometimes it's fun to be proven wrong.

Why didn't anyone ever tell me that this book is funny? I mean I guess it's kind of weird to be all "Hey, there's this book that had me laughing out loud. It's great. It's about this teenage girl who's raped at a party..."

The subject matter and Lifetime movie thing really had me thinking Speak would read like an after-school special. Boy, was I wrong.

And I think the reason my reluctant readers found it boring is because there's hardly any dialogue. That's the whole point, Melinda doesn't speak. She's lost her voice and she struggles to find it through art (hence the creepy cover). The lack of dialogue makes the unread page appear boring (brain says: eek, too much text!)

But Melinda's take on the world is anything but boring. I was laughing by the third page with her list of "Ten lies they tell you in high school." Melinda's cynicism is dark and hilarious as she blossoms into heroine-hood.

So, Junkies, read Speak, it's funny--not boring.

Contests!

2010-04-17T16:54:00.001-05:00

Hey Junkies, sorry I've been so quiet lately. I recently became a Mommy to a rescue mutt and it's a lot of work! Who knew it was so hard to balance motherhood with addiction? But don't worry, I'm not rehabilitated by any means. I'll be back shortly, ranting like the raging book-a-holic I am.

But in the meantime, here are some awesome contests for you, because who doesn't love free books?

Black and Blue Ink is having a contest extravaganza. There are tons of great books to win!

On YA Highway, you can win an ARC of The Duff by Kody Keplinger (who seems nice and all, but I have to try really hard not to hate her for writing such a great buzzed-about-book at such a young age).

But that's not all, Junkies. (Cue trumpet fanfare) I'm hosting my first ever contest!

You can win an ARC (even though it's no longer advanced) of Carrie Ryan's The Dead-Tossed Waves. Check out my review here.

All you have to do is comment on this post with a recommendation of a YA novel with a kick-ass heroine. I'll choose the winner randomly from among the commenters. (Must be in the contiguous U.S.)

Contest ends April 30th, 2010.

Please vote for me!

2010-04-06T18:12:00.001-05:00

Hey Junkies, so I'm a finalist in Parajunkee's Big Sis, Lil Blog contest. Please vote for me! I'd really love one of her graphics for the blog, they're so purdy! Plus, I need all the help I can get, obvs.

Sam tries to make it right in Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

2010-03-31T22:47:00.000-05:00

This book isn't the type I normally grab off the shelves because of my general preference to not read about depressing topics. But it seemed like everywhere I looked I read something good about Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.

Sam Kingston is an uber-popular Senior at Thomas Jefferson High School. February 12, Cupid Day, is her and her BFF's chance to flaunt what they got--until an accident ends Sam's life. Like Groundhog Day but full of teen angst, Sam wakes up over and over again on February 12, trying to set things right.

What's great about this book is that Lauren Oliver describes, in accurate detail, a day-in-the-life of a teenage girl. What's horrible about this book is that Lauren Oliver describes, in accurate detail, a day-in-the-life of a teenage girl.

The first fifty pages were kind of painful to read. Oliver's take on high school life was so on the money, that I found myself cringing as I spaced out to remember some of my high school moments. When I wasn't hitting my head against the wall trying to forget my adolescent mishaps, I was wincing at the characters' actions.

Sam and her friends are pretty callous and annoying. It was difficult to read about characters who I wanted to reach into the page and smack. But really, this is all a compliment to Oliver's skill as a story teller. She created flawed and believable young women who are desperately trying to divert attention from their own vulnerability.

And trust me, Junkies, after you get past that first day of Sam's last day on earth, the story gets really GOOD, squealing girls and all. Sam does not start off as a heroine, but as she struggles to make things right in one day, she gains the strength, nobility, and courage to rival the most kick-ass of leading ladies.

Before I Fall asks the questions: What would you do if today was your last day on earth? and If you could live one day over again, which day would it be?

But what I loved most about this book was how it played with the idea of fate, destiny, and predetermination. I loved watching how Sam's choices unraveled new paths and revealed different connections. The story explores the web that links us together and how cutting one thread can leave us feeling undone. Oliver did a great job of building up the tension in everyday scenes. She played with the butterfly effect and made me realize that we are all just one choice away from kissing our math teacher.

I also liked how there were no real bad guys in this book. Even Sam's best friend and her boyfriend, both of whom I wanted to strangle in the beginning, are just young people trying to figure it all out.

I'm curious to hear how readers currently in high school view this book, especially the beginning.

I'm as conflicted as the characters of FALLEN by Lauren Kate

2010-03-20T16:46:00.002-05:00

Just as Luce is inexplicably attracted to Daniel, I was unable to put down Fallen, despite so many things that normally bug me about a book. I read this book while visiting my parents, so I'll show you a conversation between my mom and me so you see what I mean.

(SPOILER ALERT: I won't divulge anything that can't be figured out from the prologue, but if you're one of those people who need things spelled out for you, avert your eyes now.)

Mom: What's that book about?
Me: Um, I don't know. It's a YA paranormal romance. I'm pretty sure the characters knew each other in past lives or something. I think the guy might be a fallen angel.
Mom: So, you're more than half-way through it and you don't know what it's about?
Me: Yeah, kinda sucks.
Mom: So are you going to write a negative review?
Me: No, I try not to do that. I just won't blog about it.

You see Junkies, I WASN'T going to blog about Fallen, but I kept thinking about it. Two days after I've finished the book, I can't get the characters out of my head. I think that must mean I really liked it. Maybe I'm like Daniel, I act hot and cold towards Luce, but I'm secretly in love with her...

It's a toughy because really, Luce doesn't quite meet my minimum threshold for kick ass heroine, but at the same time, I'm jonesin' for the sequel. I'll just break it down and let you decide.

Luce is a straight A student who finds herself at reform school after a mysterious incident with a fire in which Luce survived, but her male companion did not. Luce is immediately attracted to Daniel, who gives her the bird when he first sees her. Cam is a popular hotty at the school who tries to seduce Luce every chance he gets.

All her life, Luce has been plagued by shadows that creep up from dark places and terrify her. Luce keeps struggling with this feeling she knows Daniel from somewhere and is confused by Daniel's hot and cold response to her. And the book goes on like this for a while...

I got a little frustrated with all the mystery. I don't like it when books seem to build forever and then so much happens at the end that it's hard to keep it straight. It reminded me a little bit of the movie Dogma, where at the end, in the middle of an action scene, characters are shouting the rules of religious doctrine: "Kill Matt Damon, the angel" "No!!! You shot Ben Affleck's wings, now the world will end!" "Shoot Ben Affleck!" "Don't shoot Ben Affleck, then he'll be immortal!" All very confusing.

I didn't like how Luce was ALWAYS being saved by Daniel. Couldn't she have saved herself a least once? I also didn't like the punch-out-I'm-fighting-for-my-woman-while-she-stands-there-shocked-and-scared-scene.

But, the star-crossed lovers thing totally got me, as much as I hate to admit it. For some reason, this is a couple I'm rooting for. I also fell in love with all the minor characters. Lauren Kate did a brilliant job creating vivid minor characters with only a few words. And these girls are bad ass.

I can't get Arianne or Gabbe out of my head. I even want more of Cam, Roland, and Molly. So even though I can point out things that bothered me about Fallen, it left me with that feeling of wanting more. The world and the characters are believable and seem so real that I can't wait for this story to continue.

Luce grew a lot in Fallen, so I'm really hoping she'll become a kick-ass heroine in Torment.

Gabry searches for meaning in DEAD-TOSSED WAVES by Carrie Ryan

2010-03-13T17:07:00.000-06:00

OK Junkies, I had been waiting for Carrie Ryan's next installment in her post-apocalyptic, dystopian, zombie series (at least I hope it's a series, there better be more where this came from Ms. Ryan!) and now that I've finished Dead-Tossed Waves, I can't wait to tell you all about it.

I loved Ryan's first book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth and you can read my post about it here.
Dead-Tossed Waves is a companion to The Forest of Hands and Teeth and the main character is Gabry, Mary's daughter. At first, I was afraid this book would be Zombies: The Next Generation--the same story only with new characters and a slightly different setting. I'm so glad I was wrong.

Gabry is very different from her mother. While Mary is brave and was willing to risk anything in pursuit of her dreams, Gabry is terrified of the world outside the walls. While Mary felt trapped by the fences surrounding her village, Gabry welcomes the safety the walls around her provide.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth starts slow and thoughtful, building up to the blood, violence, death, and decapitations that plague the zombie-ridden world. Dead-Tossed Waves begins with a bang. Characters are attacked, infected, and killed as soon as we meet them.

What I loved about Dead-Tossed Waves was that the entire story is set in motion by Gabry's decisions. In The Forest of Hands and Teeth, so much seemed to happen to Mary that was out of her control. Other people's decisions and outside occurrences created the conflict.

Gabry and her choices are the driving forces behind Dead-Tossed Waves. Ryan did such a good job of creating Gabry's character and setting up her decisions that I was yelling at the book each time Gabry made a choice. I think my new barometer of how good a novel will be whether or not it makes me holler at it).

Gabry is a perfectly flawed heroine and some of her decisions in the beginning drove me nuts. I found myself intermittently shouting at her for being a pathetic coward and for taking dangerously stupid risks.

And that's part of what this book is about. We all make mistakes, that's what makes us human--something that's easy to forget with Mudo pushing themselves against barriers, waiting to infect anyone who missteps. Dead-Tossed Waves is so much more than an action-filled love story surrounded by zombies. The book asks us to examine the distinctions between surviving and living and asks us to think about what it means to be human.

Dead-Tossed Waves is an amazing book that kept my heart racing and my mind whirring. I really hope there is a sequel.

Vampires do it best in BLOOD SUCKING FIENDS by Christopher Moore

2010-03-02T21:19:00.001-06:00

Hey there Junkies, I'm bending my own rules a bit. Although Blood-Sucking Fiends: A Love Story is not YA, anything with vampires attracts the attention of teenagers, so therefore it totally counts.

Christopher Moore is a genius. I don't know why no one gives him credit for starting the whole paranormal romance craze. Blood-Sucking Fiends was published in 1995! (A man WAY ahead of his time!) I still think it has the best vampire sex of any fanged book out there.

OK, so Jody is a ho-hum gal until she wakes up beneath a dumpster with her exposed hand burnt to a crisp. But that's ok, because after she gobbles a critter, it heals itself. Eventually Jody figures it out. Oh crap, she's been turned into a vampire. Which sucks because that means she'll NEVER lose those 5 vanity pounds.

But Jody is a smart chick and she knows the first thing any good vampire needs is a human sex slave. Or at least someone to find her an apartment and pick up her dry cleaning. This is where Thomas Flood comes in.

Tommy is a mid-western corn-fed young man who came to San Francisco to pursue his dream of writing the great American novel. So naturally, he spends his time turkey-bowling as an after-hours stocker at Safeway. Jody meets Tommy and ya know, vampy shinanigans ensue.

You Suck: A Love Story is the awesome sequel and I can't wait for Bite Me: A Love Story to come out 3/23/10.

These books are so refreshing because they don't take themselves too seriously. One of my favorite parts in Blood Sucking Fiends is when Tommy and Jody test out all the old vampire myths. Jody does have a reflection in a mirror, who knew?

Moore creates a hilarious world with memorable characters. The city of San Francisco almost serves as a character itself, and anyone who has spent a decent amount of time in the city will appreciate these books so much more for the setting's idiosyncracies.

Of course, my favorite character is Abby Normal. She started as a minor character in Blood Sucking Fiends, narrates some of You Suck and I believe she is the central character in Bite Me. Abby is a gothic teenager who wears Converse tennis shoes, reads Anne Rice, and fantasizes about meeting a vampire. But you see, Junkies, Abby's real name is none other than, Alison Greene. Her parents named her after the Elvis Costello song. I wear Converses (my maiden name IS Converse), I read Anne Rice and fantasize about meeting a vampire (well, I did when I was a teenager). My name is Alyson Greene and my parents named me after the Elvis Costello song. I AM Abby Normal!

So, I told Christopher Moore this when I met him at a signing and he just looked at me, looked back at my name written on a post-it, and said "It's spelled wrong." Sigh. Well, at least he signed my book "To the real Abby Normal."

OK Junkies, so we're counting down the days until Bite Me comes out. Remember, if you're going to read a vampire book, let it be one that makes you laugh.

Micah is the girl who cries wolf in Justine Larbalestier's LIAR

2010-02-21T19:52:00.001-06:00

So, I'll admit it. I only heard about Liar because of its cover controversy and I decided to throw some of my money at the corrected cover. So if Bloomsbury just pulled some devious publicity stunt, it worked on me.

But it doesn't matter, because this book is awesome and I'd buy it again in a heart beat.

Micah is a modern unreliable narrator and its hard not to fall inlove with her, even while questioning everything she tells us. Micah's boyfriend is found murdered and the suspense builds as Micah jumps around, decribing events both before, and after his death.

Justine Larbalestier has created a psychological thriller that had me turning pages in search of the next piece of the puzzle. I kept fitting the pieces together, trying to make sense of it all, only to find out that some of the pieces weren't there at all.

Micah tells us straight off the bat. She's a liar. But this time, she's going to come clean, honestly. For a while she had her whole school convinced that she was a boy. So we know she's a liar, and that she's good at it. We know we should be skeptical about everything she tells us, and yet...

Through all her lies, it's so transparent that Micah just wants to be loved. Her yearning makes her so likable, so realistic, that I wanted to believe everything she told me. Even when she recants, admits she slipped up and told us a lie, I wasn't angry, I just wanted to hear more. The beauty of this story is that the more bizarre Micah's stories become, the more I believe them.

Larbalestier brilliantly plays off her readers. I mean, I'm reading fiction, I'm prepared to suspend disbelief. When this book sits on the same shelf as books about vampires, magical adventures with mad-cow disease, and faeries, why wouldn't I believe everything Micah tells me?

OK, I got to stop myself here. I might have already said too much. I'm going to read this book a second time, in search of the truth. It's a great book, you should definitely read it, honestly.

A taste of middle-child-syndrome with CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins

2010-02-14T20:11:00.001-06:00

OK Junkies, confession time: my first couple of years teaching were so awful that I had to break up the school year with little things to look forward to. I'd count the weeks/days/hours until each holiday. Oh what, you think that sounds normal? I'm not finished. In addition to counting down to holidays, I'd also count down the days and weeks until other moments of joy. I would know at any given day, how many months until the next Harry Potter book came out, or how many weeks until the next Lemony Snicket installment, or even how many weeks until the next Harry Potter movie was released (in theaters and on DVD). I told you, I'm an addict.

Well, in an attempt to ease some of my bitterness at having to work on Presidents' Day, I've decided to reinstate the countdown.

As of today, there are exactly:

4 weeks until Spring Break
16 weeks until summer vacation
27 weeks until the release of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins!

But Junkies, let's back up a second. Before we can get all giddy about the third installment in the Hunger Games trilogy, we need to talk about Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games.

SPOLIER ALERT

You know that family member who yells at the TV during a sports game, or worse, the news? Yeah, that was me while reading this book.

"No! We can't go back into the arena. Come on, Katniss, escape, revolt, go light stuff on fire with Gale. No!" and "The watch! Katniss, you saw the watch-with the bird, hello? Doh!"

Suzanne Collins has created a great character with Katniss Everdeen. Katniss is passionate and courageous. She acts on instinct, but she can also be a little naiive. None of these are great qualities for planning a secret revolution. So Catching Fire is full of behind the scenes planning that Katniss is not aware of. Unfortunately, because she's the first-person narrator, this means that the reader is also unaware of it.

We get a few clues that Katniss doesn't understand the significance of, which can be a tad frustrating. But, the thing is, Junkies, even though I shouted at the book and rolled my eyes a few times at Katniss's obliviousness, Collins knows what she's doing.

While The Hunger Games was full of physical suspense--is she going to die? who is she going to kill? Can she save Peeta?
Catching Fire is all about emotional suspense--what will she do? When will she figure it out? Who does she love? Why won't Haymitch throw her a bone?

The middle book in any trilogy is tricky. It struggles to compete with the excitement and originality of the first book, yet it has to continually build up to the climactic events to come in the third book. It's like the middle-child-syndrome. Or, I like to think of it as The Empire Strikes Back syndrome. And like The Empire Strikes Back, in Catching Fire we spend a little too much time in the snow waiting for something to happen.

But in some ways, Catching Fire did surpass The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins is a genius at crafting characters and Haymitch and Cinna come alive in the sequel. And we thought we knew Katniss and Peeta in the first book, but the second book really lets us see who they are, what they live for, and what they're willing to die for.

I do wish we got to know Gale a little more in this second book, though. Because really, if we're going to have a love triangle, I need to know WHY Katniss loves Gale. So as of right now, I'm in camp Peeta all the way, baby.

So, although I don't think it lived up to the awesomenes of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire is still a badass book and I can't wait until Mockingjay is in my hands 27 weeks from now.

Violet and Sunny Baudelaire kick ass and take names in Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events

2010-02-02T20:53:00.000-06:00

I'm not gonna lie. I was totally inspired to write this post by this recent interview with Daniel Handler by Le R. I've been a long time fan of these horrible books by a mysterious man in good looking hats. It was only a matter of time before I subjected you to the horrors that are the lives of Violet and Sunny, the heroines who comprise two-thirds of the Baudelaire orphans.

I'm not going to even attempt to summarize all thirteen books in this dreadul series, and really, what would be the point? Half of what makes these books so amazing is the idiosyncratic voice of Lemony Snicket. Narrator, Author, character, detective, and heart-broken lover, Mr. Snicket tells a story the way no one else can. Sure, you'll find A Series of Unfortunate Events in the children's section of the bookstore, but Mr. Snicket's humor is meant for a mature mind. At times, I was apalled with myself for how much I laughed while reading such a tragic story.

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are at the beach one day when an incompetent Mr. Poe arrives to tell them that their home has burned down, killing their parents inside. The Baudelaire orphans then move in with Count Olaf who does horrible things to them, like make them cook dinner, lock them in cages, and attempt to marry Violet. For thirteen books these siblings are plagued by incompetent caregivers, evil kidnappers, grammar enthusiasts, circus performers, and several unfortunate events.

The Baudelaire's escape danger and survive tragedy only by their own cunning. Violet ties her hair up in a ribbon and invents things. Sunny has incredibly strong teeth for biting and eventually learns to cook.

With each villain thwarted, and each unpleasant circumstance escaped, the Baudelaire's grow. Violet goes from a timid girl to a strong young woman who experiences her first kiss along the side of a treacherous mountain on her way to the hidden headquarters for a secret organization. Sunny grows from a non-verbal baby with the tendency to bite, into a little girl with culinary aspirations.

I love the secrecy and clues in these books. I also love how--true to life--the kids are smarter than the adults. No one is there to save these kids but themselves. Despite all the horrible things that happen to them and all the opportunities they have to go to the dark side, these kids see the potential for wrong-doing within themselves and decide to keep doing what is right, no matter how difficult it is.

If you have yet to experience A Series of Unfortunate Events, I highly reccomend you put The Bad Beginning on the top of your to-read list.

I'll be waiting for Daniel Handler's pirate book.

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl is dark, frightening, and wonderful

2010-01-24T21:24:00.000-06:00

So Junkies, I'm not sure if I should write this review because a) I'm not sure if Lena is actually a heroine and b) the ending pissed me off.

I was, however, sleep deprived for an entire week because I stayed up WAY past my bedtime reading this book, I just couldn't put it down until I heard grumblings next to me, "You know what time it is, right?" (the circles under my eyes are all part of this addiction, baby)

I loved this paranormal romance, so I figured I might as well take a minute and tell you why.

Beautiful Creatures is narrated by a sixteen-year-old boy, Ethan, who falls for a supernatural fifteen-year-old girl, Lena. It was surprisingly refreshing to be inside the head of a teenage boy who hangs out with basketball players who spend their time commenting on the relative hotness of the girls around them. These teens were very real, which is something I treasure in YA, because I spend all day with teenagers and I can spot a phony a mile away. This book was realistic in showing that teens' day-to-day stresses are more about where they fit in on the social ladder and less about homework and what their parents are up to.

I loved the layers of conflict in this story. Lena and Ethan struggle with their feelings for each other, the magic that surrounds them, and the small town with a mob-mentality working hard to make thier lives miserable. For me, the Civil War worshiping Southerners and DAR women were way creepier than any black magic or voodoo.

That's what makes Beautiful Creatures so dark and frightening and wonderful. The history of this small town is woven together with old prejudices, which is woven together with magic, which is woven together with secrecy, which results in a complex and compelling story.

I believed the magic, but more importantly, I believed the relationship. Ethan and Lena share something so rare in YA: intimacy.

Granted, it helps to get to know someone when you share dreams and read each other's thoughts, but still. Lena and Ethan talk, share secrets, talk about their hopes and fears. They spend months together, building a relationship, starting off as friends, until it's clear they care so much for each other that as Ethan says, "there's no going back."

And when it's time, they're both terrified of their feelings because they know how vulnerable it makes them, know how much they stand to lose, know how much the other could hurt them. I bought their love, hook, line, and sinker.

That's what teen love can look like, people. Not "Hey baby, aren't I dangerous and smoldering? I love you so much I peep through your window every night.' 'Ooh, I love you too, the world is a scary place, protect me?' 'Of course, I'll kill anyone who looks at you, that's how much I love you' Swoon."

Lena is one bad ass female who does what she can to protect Ethan from the curse that plagues her and, most importantly, from herself. She's a wonderful mix of powerful and vulnerable. She's only learning what she's capable of. She can cause a hurricane on a whim, but is terrified of the bitchy cheerleaders. Lena is dark and dangerous and is balanced by Ethan's optimism.

So, Junkies, here I was, flipping pages, losing sleep, biting my nails. Terrified for Ethan and Lena because of the magic, the danger, the secrecy, the prophecy, the sacrifices, the choices, the creepy Civil War reenactment. Will they be able to hold on to their love through it all?

And then what do I get? Not an ending, not a resolution, but a postponement. I'm sorry Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (side note how DO two people write a book together? You must share dreams and thoughts like Ethan and Lena), your book is amazing. It's beautiful and dark, but your ending pissed me off. I mean, I kind of get it, maybe you wanted to leave us wanting more, priming us for the sequel. And if that's the case, it worked. But I read the last page like 10 times, mumbling to myself, "that's it?"

Ok, Junkies, I just did a litle tap-tapping on google and discovered that Beautiful Creatures is only the first in a FIVE book series. The sequel will be out in December. Phew! Ok, my addict anger has slightly abated. I will, however, be simmering until that sequel is in my shaky, scratchy hands.

RADIANT SHADOWS by Melissa Marr: The Ultimate Fairytale

2010-01-16T20:19:00.002-06:00

OK Junkies, so I was fortunate enough to receive an Advanced Reader's Copy of Melissa Marr's 4th book in the Wicked Lovely series, Radiant Shadows, and can I just say: OMG!!!

I'll try to tread carefully here, because as much as I want to tell you how wonderful the book is, I really don't want to spoil anything, especially when you'll have to wait three months to read it (haha, suckers!). I'm hesitant to even tell you about the existence of one of the characters, because, after all, if the High Queen doesn't know about her, should you?

Part of Melissa Marr's genius is the way she's structured her series. She takes tiny pieces of information and marginal characters from one book and turns them into the central focus of the next book.

Now, when I met Ani in Ink Exchange, and I met Devlin in Fragile Eternity, I highly disliked both of them. I just remember picturing Ani licking Irial's blood with a guilty look on her face and thinking, "Who is this chick?" And how could I not be turned off by the cold calculating assassin in FE?

I still didn't immediately fall in love with them as I started reading Radiant Shadows. Ani is consumed by need. She needs touch, she needs emotion, and she's denied both, so what she really needs is a place to belong. At first, it was hard to stomach a character who acts purely in response to her hungers, with little thought of anything else.

Devlin is calculating as he balances both the order and the chaos he's made of. He simply shrugs as Bananach stabs a mortal next to him. He's killed plenty of faeries and mortals and accepts that death is sometimes necessary to keep order.

Ani and Devlin are probably the least human of Marr's characters. But as Ani discovers her strength and Devlin lets himself be weak, it's really hard not to root for them.

At times, Radiant Shadows is bloody and violent, but it's by far Marr's most romantic book yet. And by the end, Ani is definitely Marr's strongest heroine. In a lot of ways, this read like a classic fairytale. There's a prince, a horse, a fairy-godmother, a prophecy, an orphan, a wicked witch, revenge, and a to-die-for love.

But of course, Melissa Marr takes the classic fairytale and turns it on its head. She's great at creating a world with impenetrable boundaries, impossible obstacles, and nonnegotiable rules. Then Marr creates characters strong enough to knock them all down.

It's a story about finding one's place in the world, about fate, about destiny. In a world where loyalty is everything, this story is about the characters with split identities. Ani is half-mortal and half-fey, which makes her dangerous to both worlds. Devlin was created by Order and Chaos, but has nowhere to call home. Rae is neither mortal nor fey and has secrets she cannot tell. Seth is sometimes mortal, sometimes fey, and has allegiances everywhere. The stakes are high as these characters struggle to find where they fit in and decide what they're willing to sacrifice for love.

Seth's small presence in the book is exhilarating. I gasped out loud while reading when I remembered something from the end of Fragile Eternity that seemed trivial then, but proved pivotal in Radiant Shadows. Marr has woven threads throughout all four books that have left me hankering for the final installment.

I've been repeating the last line of Radiant Shadows's Epilogue in my head over and over again since I finished reading. And Ms. Marr, if you're out there, please, PLEASE let him take his advice.

Mibs shows us you don't have to kick ass to be a heroine, in SAVVY by Ingrid Law

2010-01-07T21:51:00.001-06:00

I love middle grade novels. I love 'em so much I wrote one. I especially love them when I don't feel like I have to turn off a part of my brain to enjoy them.

Savvy is a great middle grade novel. Those writers out there trying to figure out what the heck agents and editors mean when they say they want "voice" definitely need to pick up a copy of Savvy, by Ingrid Law. Mibs narrates her story in her charming midwestern-small-town-magical-thirteen-year-old voice. Her quirky turns-of-phrase and unique sayings are easy to fall in love with.

Mibs explains her and her family's special abilities using a bizarre vernacular that somehow sounds natural. I didn't skip a beat when she explained that Rocket hadn't learned to "scumble his savvy."

You see, Junkies, everyone in Mibs's family has a savvy, or a special gift. Her oldest brother, Rocket, has a way with electricity, her brother Fish manipulates the weather, and her grandpa causes land to shift and grow. Their savvies are revealed to them on their thirteenth birthday. Fish caused a hurricane the day he turned 13, so the family had to move to Nebransas-Kansaka, to get away from the water.

Tragedy strikes Mibs's family two days before her thirteenth birthday. She's convinced her savvy will be able to save her family and she sets off on an adventure where she discovers not only her savvy, but even more important things about herself.

Savvy is really a kind of coming of age story. It tackles the tough moments of transitioning from a child to a teenager in a way that adults can relate to. There's a little romance, a little comedy, a little tragedy, and a whole lot of adventure.

Even though there were no real bad guys to fight, no monsters to kill, and no evil to thwart, this was still an exciting story that kept me turning pages. Mibs never had to risk her life to show us she's incredibly brave. She never had to hurt someone to show us she's strong.

After finishing the book, it took me a while to realize what was so different about it. I'm so used to associating magic powers and fantasy with good v.s. evil battles. This book showed me that there doesn't need to be a bad guy, that life itself is a big enough obstacle to require a heroine with super powers.

I'm looking forward to Law's sequel, Scumble.

Don't worry Junkies, I'm not going soft on you. My next post will hopefully be about Melissa Marr's Radiant Shadows which is sure to have plenty of ass-kicking heroines and bloody battles.

Killer Katniss in THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins

2009-12-17T18:27:00.006-06:00

Hey there, Junkies. So in the wee hours of the night, one fateful September, when the first inklings of the idea to write this blog came to me, I thought this book would definitely be the first I'd write about. Well, three months have passed and I still haven't posted about The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I don't know why I've put it off. Part of me feels that there's been so much buzz about this book, that at this point it's a little redundant to encourage you to go read it. Because clearly, if you haven't read it yet, you've either been living under a rock or you simply have no interest in bad-ass heroines in dystopian YA novels. So really? What's the point? I can rant and rave about how action-packed and horrifying it is, but I'm just preaching to the choir.

But anyway.

Katniss lives with her mom and her younger sister, Prim, in District 12, the poorest district in Panem, the post-apocalyptic nation controlled by the Capitol. Katniss is a survivor. Despite the death of her father and dire poverty, Katniss takes care of her mother and sister. Katniss uses a bow her father made to poach wildlife with her bestfriend, Gale. Together, Gale and Katniss sneak behind the District 12 fences to hunt and speak freely about their disdain for the Capitol.

Each year the Capitol holds the Hunger Games. Two Tributes, a boy and girl between 12-18 years-old, are randomly selected from a lottery to represent their district in the Hunger Games. Basically, it's like Survivor, only to the death. Whoever stays alive the longest wins! The winner earns amazing riches and food for his/her district.

Prim is selected as the girl from District 12, but Katniss immediately volunteers to go in her sister's place. Peeta, a baker's son Katniss's age, is selected as the male tribute. Katniss accepts her entrance into the Hunger Games as certain death, she only hopes she won't have to kill Peeta.

Katniss and Peeta are pampered and prepared for the Hunger Games in the Capitol. Haymitch, District 12's only former winner of the games, serves as Peeta and Katniss's coach. Unfortunately Haymitch is an alcoholic.

The action starts once they enter the arena and the fight to the death begins. Some of the traps in the arena, and the way these teengagers willingly kill each other is quite horrifying. Once Katniss starts wielding a bow and arrow, her bad-assness erupts. She's a survivor and she'll do whatever it takes to save herself.

Yes, this book is full of gruesome action. But what I love about it are the other, more subtle parts. I love the kind-of-love-story and the emerging love-triangle. I love the dystopian political/social commentary. And I LOVE the question that is barely alluded to: What does killing a person, even in self-defense, do to one's psyche?

Ok, so get out from under your rock, catch up with the rest of us and read The Hunger Games.

Ok, so in a previous post, I challenged anyone to find a tougher heroine than Katsa from Graceling.

What do y'all think? Who's tougher? Katniss or Katsa?

Clary grows into bad-assness in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series.

2009-12-07T17:58:00.007-06:00

Hey there, Junkies. So, I first fell in love with City of Bones when I read it as an alternative to this other book that is very lacking in heroines, but for some reason is very popular. Like this other book, The Mortal Instruments has romantic and paranormal elements, includes a love triangle with a vampire, and has groups of vampires and werewolves who don't get along. So, if you're a fan of this other book, I'd get over it and put it down already, and read The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare.

Now Clary is not exactly a top-notch heroine. She grows into her bad-assness throughout the series. In City of Bones she starts off as really more of a methodone (heehee, get it?). Ok, seriously.

Clary lives in New York and hangs out with her best friend, Simon. One night Clary sees this hotty, Jace, and these two other teens kill a demon. Clary is not supposed to see demons. Clary is not supposed to see Jace. Jace, Alec, and Isabel, are Shadow-hunters, a special race of people designed to kill demons.

After some flirting with Jace, Clary goes home to find her apartment in ruins, her mom missing, and a demon waiting for her. Clary fights the demon and kills it. This is where her road to bad-ass heroinism begins.

It turns out, Clary was born a Shadow-hunter, but her mom has been hiding her from the Shadow-hunter world. She's been lying to Clary and taking her to Magnus Bane, a deliciously flamboyant warlock, to have her memory altered.

Well, now Clary's mom is kidnapped and Clary has to team up with the shadow-hunters to find her mom and fight some demons, and in the meantime, she falls inlove with Jace.

Although in City of Bones Clary depends a little too much on Jace and the shadow-hunters to save her, in City of Ashes she discovers her own power, and by City of Glass Clary reaches full heroine status and is powerful enough to fight the bad guy on her own.

These books are fun and action packed. There are some great characters, like Magnus Bane the flamboyant warlock, and Raphael the cross-wearing vampire. I love how in the middle of a demon war, the most difficult situation a 19-year-old boy can face is telling his parents that he's gay. I enjoyed the love triangle and appreciated the realistic portrayal of teen sex. There are some steamy moments in this series!

I also LOVED the Star-Wars-esque family dynamic (Luke...I am your father. I love you Princess Leia...as a sister). You want forbidden love? These books have some hot forbidden love.

So any and all urban fantasy/ paranormal romance fans must read these books. Let me know what you think.

Free Book Contest!

2009-12-06T12:36:00.001-06:00

Want to win some YA books? YA Highway is having a great holiday contest to win some of thier favorite books. Check it out.

2010 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge

2009-12-05T15:09:00.005-06:00

So, Reading with Tequila has this challenge to read books in 2010 that are recommended by book bloggers.

I think I'm going to go for Level III, and read 15 books from the list. Here are the books I plan to read from the extensive 2009 recommended list:

Hush, Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick

Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman

Northern Lights - Phillip Pullman

Push - Sapphire

The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett

Peeps - Scott Westerfeld

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Star Girl - Jerry Spinelli

The Stand - Stephen King

Willow - Julia Hoban

The Truth About Forever - Sarah Dessen

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

Holes - Louis Sachar

13 Reasons Why - Jay Asher

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

Anyone out there have any other recommendations????

Here are the books from the list that I've already read:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling
City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Graceling - Kristin Cashore
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer

The Red Tent - Anita Diamant
City of Ashes - Cassandra Clare
Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling

The Road - Cormac McCarthy
Queen of the Damned - Anne Rice
The Giver - Lois Lowry
The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft - Stephen King

Remember Me - Christopher Pike

The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay - Michael Chabon

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libby Bray
Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
City of Glass - Cassandra Clare
Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides

The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan
Dress Your Kids in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Happiness Sold Separately - Libby Street

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult

Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
A Ring of Endless Light - Madeleine L'Engle
Lamb - Christopher Moore
Marley and Me - John Grogan
The Yiddish Policeman's Union - Michael Chabon
Dracula - Bram Stoker

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

In Her Shoes - Jennifer Weiner

The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster

Watchers - Dean Koontz

FIRE by Kristin Cashore

2009-12-01T18:30:00.009-06:00

OK Junkies, so her second book, Fire, definitely places Kristin Cashore on my read-anything-and-everything-by-this-author-list. I mean, Fire does suffer a little from middle-child-syndrome as it doesn't quite live up to Graceling, and now that I've finished Fire, I'm just really excited to have my third kid, ahem, I mean read Cashore's third book, Bitterblue.

Fire is a companion book to Graceling, but I really insist you read Graceling first, so get going. The two books have one character in common. Cashore brilliantly introduces him in the prologue and has the reader biting her nails in suspense waiting for him to reappear, knowing that when he does, it will be with devastating consequences (and it is).

Fire lives in the Dells, a kingdom left in chaos by the former King Nax and his evil adviser, Cansrel, Fire's father. There are monsters in the Dells, beautiful creatures with the ability to manipulate people's minds, typically with violent results. Cansrel was a monster who drove the kingdom to ruins for his amusement and left behind the only existing human-monster, Fire.

Fire is capable of enormous power, but she's terrified of using it and becoming the despicable creature her father was. Although Fire is powerful, being a monster makes her extremely vulnerable. She's the most gorgeous creature in the land and can control minds, but all the animal-monsters, and a great number of people, want to kill her. (It's kind of like the president, in a way. He has all this power, but can't even run to the corner market without an entourage of secret-service cuz some whack-job might shoot him).

So, while avoiding assassination attempts, Fire struggles for her independence and tries to find her place and purpose in a dangerous world. King Nax's two sons, Nash and Brigan, seek Fire out for her help, but the problem is while Brigan hates her, Nash likes her a little too much.

Cashore does a great job of interweaving all sorts of intriguing side plots and back story to keep the reader guessing, even when some other plot elements may be predictable and anticipated, such as the appearance of that Graceling character.

Even with all the war, sex, violence, and mind control, this story is really about family. It seemed very fitting to be reading it on Thanksgiving. The royal family of the Dells resembles most modern American families with half-brothers, step-sisters, adoptive fathers, love triangles, and illegitimate babies galore.

When men, raptors, and mountain lions want to kill her at the mere sight of her flowing red hair, Fire learns that the most dangerous thing she can do in the face of human mortality, is love someone.

Once again, Cashore brings us a young-adult fantasy with sophisticated grown-up relationships. (I mean, really, if I had to sum-up these relationships you'd think these people belong on Jerry Springer or One Life to Live, but Cashore's artful writing elevates all the baby-mommas up the literary ranks and turns them into one great story).

And I know this blog is about heroines, and Fire is pretty bad-ass, and Cashore does a great job of balancing Fire's power with her vulnerability. But can I just say one little thing about the men?

In addition to powerful heroines, Cashore writes great men. She writes horrible, misogynistic men, she writes good-intentioned but controlling and domineering men, and she writes men for her heroines to fall in love with who are...good. Both Katsa and Fire feared losing a part of themselves and sacrificing their independence to be in a relationship. But both of them fall for men who love them for the bad-ass independent heroines they are.

Also, one more thing. I like the sex in these books. Although Cashore barely describes a kiss, her characters have sex. Actually, in Fire, some of them have a lot of sex. The reader doesn't see it, it's barely mentioned, but it's there, and it's a part of life and normal messy relationships.

The combination of well-crafted male characters and a positive and realistic outlook on sex make Fire a breathtaking romance. Cashore sets up healthy adult relationships that young girls can look up to. Which is SO much more than I can say about some other YA books.

Anyways, go read Fire and let the countdown to Bitterblue begin!

Mary fights against death in THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH by Carrie Ryan

2009-11-23T10:36:00.004-06:00

OK Junkies, I've been debating whether or not to use common archetypal vernacular to tell you what this book is about. On the one hand, I don't want to cheapen Ryan's literary approach to a familiar setting and turn you off from this amazing book. But, on the other hand, I would hate for anyone to find themselves, as I did, all alone at night in a new house reading about something much more terrifying than expected. Maybe I'll decide by the end of this post.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth is dark, frightening, and beautiful. Mary is coming of age in a village, that according to the Sisterhood, is home to the last survivors of humanity. Mary's world exists several generations after The Return and the Sisterhood enforces rules and traditions to continue the human race.

Guardians protect and reinforce the fences surrounding the village. Beyond these fences is the Forest of Hands and Teeth, which is filled with the Unconsecrated who mindlessly paw and push themselves against the fence.

Mary's life changes forever when her mother is infected and becomes Unconsecrated, and Mary is thrust into the unyielding Sisterhood. As Mary searches to uncover the Sisterhood's secrets, she also discovers a forbidden love.

Mary must choose between duty and love, and between safety and her dreams. Not only is Mary brave in fighting against traditions and expectations, but she is hard-core in swinging an axe and scythe, decapitating death itself.

Mary lives in a horrifying world, surrounded by death. Yet she has the courage to hope for something more than simple safety and contentment. While reading, I intermittently wanted to kiss Mary and kick her in the teeth for deciding that being with the man she loves isn't enough for her. She risks her life (and those of her friends and family, eek) to pursue her dream and chase after hope.

Mary is courageous, and pretty darn selfish, in searching for a meaning to life beyond surviving, in finding a reason to live amongst so much death.

OK, Junkies. Basically, this book is a coming-of-age-love-story that takes place a few generations after the zombie apocalypse. Mary is a kick-ass heroine who decapitates the living dead better than her male counterparts.

But Carrie Ryan tells this story beautifully. Like the characters, you forget about the Unconsecrated relentlessly clawing at the fences. This story is about a young girl's search for happiness and her refusal to accept the role society has designed for her.

Read The Forest of Hand and Teeth, but lock the doors and turn on all the lights in the house before you do.

Gutsy CORALINE by Neil Gaiman

2009-11-14T19:50:00.008-06:00

I was fortunate enough to grow up with a great mom who was also an amateur actress. This resulted in great bed-time stories and dramatic readings of picture books. My mom's talent, however, also led to some terrifying moments.

There were a few times (I don't know if I was annoying the crap out of her or what) when I was hanging out with Mom, maybe even curled up in her lap, and she'd snap.

She'd look down her nose at me with disgust and in a weird British accent say, "Mother? I am not your Mother! I have no idea what your talking about! I don't know who you are, little girl."

She'd keep it up for a few minutes, sometimes even pushing me away as I clawed at her, whimpering, "Mom! Stop!" Of course my pleading only egged her on more. This terrified me.

She'd then laugh and say she was just kidding, but I never thought it was funny.

Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, brought the horror of these moments all back to me.

Do not be fooled, Junkies. Sure the book is thin, there are illustrations, the font is huge. Looks like a quaint little children's book. Looks can be deceiving.

This book may be the most frightening thing I've ever read (granted, I do not enjoy being scared and stay away from horror, or anything with a spooky cover).

I finished Coraline in one night because I never found a safe place to put it down.

Coraline is an only child who moves with her parents into a new house and is feeling a little neglected. She finds a door in the house with a wall of bricks behind it.

One day she opens the door and instead of bricks, she finds a passage way to another house that is almost identical to her house, and a mom and dad that are almost identical to her mom and dad.

SPOILER ALERT!

The other mother has buttons for eyes and promises Coraline to love her, pay attention to her, and give her whatever she wants. The only thing is, the other mother needs to sew buttons onto Coraline's eyes.

Corlaine navigates her way through the eerie and grotesque alternate universe to save her parents and battle the other mother.

OK, forget the talking dogs, the killer rats, the sticky membrane filled with the neighbors. Just the whole idea of the other mother makes me think that Neil Gaiman is either a warped creative genius, hates children, or both.

It's been ten years since I lived with my mom, but the idea of the other mother trying to make me her daughter in her goth-version-of-Alice-in-Wonderland-only-way-more-f-ed-up world sent shivers down my spine.

But this is what makes Coraline such a great heroine. She's terrified, the reader is terrified, but Coraline faces her fear and fights to save her parents. Coraline learns that true bravery isn't lack of fear, but being scared and doing what's right despite that fear.

Gaiman's writing is clean, simple, and elegant. He doesn't beat around the bush, he just focuses on the story and the wacked-out world created by the other mother. Each sentence packs a punch in this story told by a smart, brave, no nonsense narrator, Coraline.

I wish I was as courageous as Coraline. If I opened a door in my living room and was faced with the other mother, I'd probably curl up in a ball and cry.

Deadly Katsa in GRACELING by Kristin Cashore

2009-11-03T11:50:00.005-06:00

Hey Junkies! How I've missed you! Sorry this week's post is late but sometimes "real life" gets in the way of pursuing and chronicling my addiction. Sigh.

OK, let's get right down to it. Not since my She-Ra days, has anything made me want to jump up and fight invisible bad guys in the backyard as much as this book.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore packs a punch and Katsa is the ultimate kick-ass heroine. (I hereby challenge anyone to find a literary heroine tougher and deadlier than Katsa).

Cashore creates a fantasy world with seven kingdoms that fortunately does not require the reader to learn elvish nor refer constantly to a map, (and thank goodness cuz that would just kill our buzz). In this world, some people are born gracelings. They have two different colored eyes and a special ability that manifests itself in adolescence. Gracelings are feared and exploited, especially Katsa.

Katsa is an orphan (of course! This is a YA book, hello!) who lives with her uncle, a nasty king of one of the 7 kingdoms. Katsa's grace is killing. She can't be defeated in a fight, she's rarely injured, and she can snap a warrior's neck with a flick of her wrist. I told you, she's bad-ass. Katsa serves as a hired goon for her uncle, threatening and killing people who owe him money or have insulted him in some way.

Katsa has moral qualms about her role as a mercenary and secretly works to put her talents to better use. She meets Po, a graced hotty from another land. Po is the first person Katsa's met who can challenge her skills at fighting, and together they work to uncover the kingdoms' secrets.

Graceling is marketed for young adults BUT it is sophisticated enough to tickle my grown-up dendrites. It's beautifully and intelligently written and I never felt like I had to reach up and turn off part of my brain to enjoy it. Katsa and Po's relationship is so nuanced, I'm not sure most teenagers can fully appreciate it. Also, there was enough political intrigue, romance, and suspense to keep my mind busy that I never fully guessed the ending, unlike with some YA books.

Graceling is about a tough chick finding her humanity and learning to be vulnerable. It is wonderful to watch how Katsa is perfectly skilled at killing a man with her bare hands, but fumbles through simple social situations.

Cashore's characters are so real, I felt bad for their losses days after I'd finished reading.

Fire is on my to-read-list and I have a feeling I'll be posting about that heroine when I'm through.

Go read Graceling and then open up a can-of-whoop-ass on the bad guys in your yard when you're done.

Melissa Marr’s WICKED LOVELY is Pumped Full of Heroines

2009-10-25T18:52:00.010-05:00

In searching for my next high, I kept hearing great things about this book, Wicked Lovely. The title is hecka tight and the cover grabbed me, so I snatched it off the library shelves without even reading the flap copy. When I got home, I settled into my recliner and prepared to lose myself in the sweet stuff.

I cracked open the book and at about page 2, I stopped and thought, “Wait! Fairies? This book is about faeries?”

See, normally, I don’t do fairies.

The fey are similar to werewolves, vampires, and zombies in that they are well known mythical creatures. But the similarities end there, because unlike vampires who have a set of simple well known rules (except when a certain writer earns millions by making them sparkle, don’t even get me started), faeries are freakin’ complicated.

I didn’t read fairy stories as a little girl, so the difference between a brownie, a pixie, a sprite, and a nymph were not part of my prior knowledge. I didn’t grow up knowing that iron can kill faeries and that one should never, ever, ever, ever, ever eat or drink fairy food. If you haven’t noticed, I’m still having trouble spelling the word (I can’t decide if I’m British or not).

But luckily, I didn’t let this deter me from reading Wicked Lovely, because then I would have missed out on a fabulous book. Marr beautifully weaves fairy folklore with her modern, edgy story. I love that the teenagers in this story act like real teens, they’re into piercings and tattoos, they drink and smoke, they talk about sex, they have sex, and they are all imperfect.

Oh Junkies, don’t worry, this is all artfully alluded to, it’s not like Wicked Lovely is pages of debauchery, it’s just refreshingly realistic.

By my estimation there are 2.73 heroines in Marr’s first three books, Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange, and Fragile Eter nity.

In Wicked Lovely, we are introduced to Aislinn, a mortal teenage girl who has The Sight, she can see faeries. Growing up witnessing the horrible things they do to each other and to humans, Aislinn is terrified of the fey. She freaks out when Keenan, the fairy Summer King, and Donia, his Winter Girl, start following her.

Now this is where I started to love faeries. You see, they can’t lie, which makes every fairy essentially a lawyer. They’re thousands of years old and their world is split into these kingdoms with ever-changing alliances. The fey are constantly watching what they say and twisting each other’s words.

What’s great about Wicked Lovely is that Marr elaborately sets up a very tough situation for her heroine. Aislinn is left with two bad choices, and must choose the lesser evil. Lots of books do this, we spend a hundred pages watching the protagonist choose between a rock and a hard place.

Wicked Lovely breaks the mold when Aislinn chooses neither. She becomes a kick-ass heroine when she sets her own terms, and makes her own rules.

Now, Ink Exchange ranks lower on the bad-ass-heroine scale for me. Leslie, the protagonist, is a broken girl who spends the book learning her self-worth and gaining her strength to become a heroine. This book did, however, make me fall in love with Niall, the so-bad-he’s-good fairy. And I hope Leslie returns (stronger and ready to bust some heads) in Marr’s fourth or fifth book.

Fragile Eternity is a sequel to Wicked Lovely (but read Ink Exchange first. Pay attention, Junkies).

SPOILER ALERT: the ending of Wicked Lovely is implied by my comments about its sequel. Go read Wicked Lovely!

Aislinn loses some bad-ass points in Fragile Eternity. Yes, she is actually way more powerful than she was in the first book, but she doesn’t seem to realize this. She’s pushed around throughout the whole book. I get it, there will be 5 books in the series, and she’s just getting her footing in her new world, but it was disappointing to see her torn apart by the two men in her life.

Ok Melissa Marr (if by some miracle you’re reading this) I’m warning you. By book five, Aislinn better open-up-a-can-of-whoop-ass on the kingling and set all those boys straight as to who has the power, or else…I’ll be disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong, Junkies, Fragile Eternity has no shortage of heroines. Donia comes into her own and leaves behind her sulky self from the first book and asserts her dominance. She is a tough chick not to be messed with. The third book also gives us more of brooding Niall, very sexy. And we’re introduced to another fairy queen. I haven’t decided if she’s a heroine or a villain yet. (Note to self: someday write a blog about bad-ass female villains. These books have at least 2 great ones).

Ok this post is looong, so let’s sum up:

Read Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange, and Fragile Eternity (in that order)

Melissa Marr, here are my requests:

1) Leslie should come back, bigger and badder
2) Aislinn needs to open-up-a-can-of-whoop-ass
3) I love Donia (don’t kill her off, please!)
4) Introduce me to Niall.

I can't wait for Radiant Shadows!

OK Junkies, what do you think? Should I do separate posts for books in a series? Or can you suffer through these mega-posts about 3 books at a time?

Conflicted Nya in The Shifter by Janice Hardy

2009-10-17T20:33:00.007-05:00

OK Junkies, last week we looked at some oldies-but-goodies, but this week I'm going to rant about a new drug on the street. In my pathetic attempt to keep my finger on the pulse of the YA book market, I heard about this book a while ago and have been anticipating it for a couple months.

The Healing Wars: Book One, The Shifter by Janice Hardy came out few weeks ago. I gobbled it up and will now regurgitate for you, my beloved Junkies.

Nya is an orphan in a war-torn land. She steals and works odd jobs to feed herself, while her younger sister, Tali is an apprentice in The League, learning to be a healer. Now, I love YA urban-fantasy, but I'm usually wary of any book that begins with a map of a non-existent place and has fantastical names for races of fantastical creatures.

Hardy, however, introduces her imagined world with a finesse that never makes me turn back to look at the damn map. In the beginning, Nya is chased by a cute soldier for stealing eggs. The first chapter grabbed my attention and left me hankering for more. Without an info-dump, the reader figures out that Nya is Geveg in a land conquered and now ruled by Baseeri.

Nya's parents were wealthy and powerful, but were killed in the war that left Gevegs as second-class citizens and Nya all-but homeless. Nya's grandmother and mother were healers. They drew pain out of the sick and injured and transferred it into this magical metal known as pynvium. Tali, Nya's younger sister, also has the ability to heal and is learning the subtleties of her ability in an institution known as The League.

Nya also has strong powers. Nya can draw pain out of those suffering, but cannot transfer it into pynvium. Instead, she can do something no other healer can, she shifts the pain into others.

Before she died, Nya's mother made Nya promise to never use her ability, and Nya kept her promise, until now. Nya's frightened of her own power and terrified of hurting people, but when her sister's life is in danger, she must make terrible choices.

Now, my dear junkies, I do not intend, nor will I attempt, for this blog to serve as an analytic review of any book. It's more of a place to rant about the novels that make me bliss out. With that said, there are a few things about The Shifter that I have to get off my chest.

I think, but I'm not sure, that this book is marketed as middle-grade, instead of young adult. If not, I advise you think of it as such, anyway. To me, there's a fundamental problem with middle-grade novels written in first-person that have an adolescent protagonist.

(Well ok, let's back up a second. Actually, the problem is that I'm an intelligent adult reading a book meant for ten-year-olds, but just hear me out.)

The problem is this: If the book is written in a sophisticated way that makes my brain happy, then part of me is always kind of thinking "Wait! Thirteen-year-olds don't think like this. This narrator is too insightful, empathetic, and logical to be thirteen!"

Or, if the author does a great job of capturing the mindset of an adolescent, then I'm stuck inside the head of a damn thirteen-year-old for 200 pages!

Hardy suffers a little bit from the latter problem. Nya is a very realistic adolescent. But sometimes her thought process and the way she draws conclusions is pretty illogical and hard to follow (again, realistic).

The premise/theme of The Shifter is that Nya is essentially a weapon. She must choose who to hurt and who to save, and she battles herself to decide whether or not to hurt one innocent person in order to save a group. I get that, hard choices, heavy stuff. But I think Nya struggles with this a little too much, and there's a whole lot of justification going on from other characters. There was a little too much, yes she made this tough decision and she hurt someone who didn't deserve it, but she's still a really good person, let's take a minute and explain why.

I like my heroines to be imperfect. And come on Janice, didn't you get a three book deal? Let Nya be racked with guilt for the next two books. Everything got tied up into too neat of a package for me at the end.

But then again, I'm 20 years older than the target audience. Maybe fifth-graders need the explanation of why it's OK that their heroine hurts strangers.

With all that said, I'm still totally excited for the next installment of The Healing Wars. Justified, or not, Nya is a total bad-ass. By the end of The Shifter, Nya and the reader discover what she's capable of, and she's a force to be reckoned with.

OK Junkies, what do you think? Should I be less picky as an adult reading kids' books? Should I just grow up and read books for people my own age?

But I'm addicted! I need my heroines!

The Brave Brat: Lyra in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy

2009-10-09T19:42:00.009-05:00

Ok, junkies, here's the deal, some people got their panties in a wad a few years back when a mediocre movie was made out of The Golden Compass and some churchy people were protesting/boycotting the film because of Pullman's anti-christian message.

I really don't want to spend a lot of time on this, and I know plenty of eighth graders who love the books and are oblivious to Pullman's critiques of organized religion, but I just want say two things.

1) I think that it's important to engage with, not boycott, media that presents a viewpoint different from our own. That's how we learn and grow. (Except for Fox News, there's no way I'm watching that crap.)

Also, I think it's pretty ridiculous when parents let their children watch R rated movies full of violent murders, but then don't let their kids read Harry Potter because it has witchcraft, or read The Golden Compass because it makes churches look bad.

2) John Milton wrote a great epic poem, Paradise Lost. Philip Pullman wrote His D ark Materials as a reaction/critique/inversion to that poem. It would be great if we could read and talk about these things as literature without the hoopla.

Kay, one more disclosure, then junkies, I'm hankerin' for my heroine, so we gotta get down to business.

FTC: (In case anyone besides my mom ever reads this) I get almost all the books that I discuss here for free. From my dad. Hope I don't get a fine.

Let's talk Lyra. His Dark Materials trilogy is comprised of The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.

Pullman cleverly never divulges Lyra's age, but in the beginning of The Golden Compass she is a child and by the end of The Amber Spyglass she is closer to a young woman.

Lyra lives in a world parallel to our own, where people's souls are kept in their animal companions, daemons. Daemons change their shape at will when their humans are children, but a sign of sexual maturity is a daemon settling into one animal form. Pullman uses Daemons as the ultimate characterization tool. The type of animal of each daemon reveals the personality of its associated human and daemons exhibit fierce emotions, which are hidden by the faces of their human counterparts.

Lyra is no girly girl. She fights with the neighborhood boys and skips along the roof of the college she lives in. Like any good YA protagonist, she has no parents. Lyra is raised by a handful academicians.

The thing is, I don't really like Lyra. She's bossy, pretentious, and just, I don't know, unfriendly. Now don't get me wrong. Just because I don't want her to be my BFF, and I'm not secretly wishing I was her while I'm reading, like with some heroines, that doesn't mean she doesn't kick ass. She's smart, and brave, and makes some very hard choices without being a ninny about it. And I'm rooting for her throughout the series.

SPOILER ALERT! Keep reading at your own peril.

But really, you can't blame the girl for being a bit of a brat. You see, actually, she does have parents. They've just abandoned her. They're each leading a side of a brewing war over parallel universes, souls and, you know, the future of existence and stuff. And when it comes down to it, both her mother and father worry more about winning the war than the well-being of their daughter.

So what if she's a brat? She saves the multiverse and all of existence. She's pretty damn heroic.

You see, in The Subtle Knife, Lyra teams up with Will, a guy from our world. Together, they travel through parallel worlds, saving people, and falling in love. All sorts of creatures are trying to kill Lyra for various reasons and Will and Lyra discover that she's the key to this whole war.

SPOILER ALERT! I'm serious! I'm not pulling any punches.

The church is trying to kill Lyra because essentially, she is Eve. They figure if they can kill her before she eats that apple, then they can prevent the second fall.

The choice Lyra is presented with is that she can stay with the boy she fell in love with, Will, and watch the multiverse disintegrate. Or she can go back to her world, and Will to his, and preserve all of existence. She makes the right choice.

As always, I haven't come close to doing these books justice. So read them! There are some awesome battle scenes with polar bears, zeppelins, and witches. Mrs. Coulter is a female antagonist that will chill you to the bone. The Amber Spyglass also has some wickedly good stuff with Angels and the World of the Dead. Pullman also does a great job with non-humanoid creatures from parallel worlds. Again, beating my head against the wall because I'll never be creative enough to think up something like the Mulefa. And, I gotta say, Pullman's concept of Dust is pretty cool. So get reading!

Liesel Hubermann, the good saumensch in Markus Zusak's The Book Thief

2009-10-03T21:35:00.005-05:00

Even though my days of being carded for a cocktail seem to be long over, and my crow's feet sprout a new toe each day, I love reading young adult novels. In addition to following teenagers around in the public library and at bookstores in search of my next fix, I've also developed the habit of interrogating my students on any non-assigned text they carry. (typical junkie behavior)

My students become accustomed to me picking up a book off their desk, reading the back and asking, "Any good?"

I usually get one of three responses:

1) A shrug and a flash of the cover to expose Anime illustrations and Japanese text, in which case I, in turn, shrug and walk away.

2) "OMG! Yes.." high pitched unintelligible squeals, "vampires...werewolf" more squeals, "he's so hot!" I then back away slowly.

3) "Yes! It's intense. You see it's about this girl and she's on drugs, and her dad rapes her, and she cuts herself, and she's gonna kill herself, but there's this boy, and he's on drugs..." I nod my head and bite my lip looking really serious, then make a mental note to NOT read that book. (I'm looking to get high on a heroine, not depressed about heroin)

Well, last spring I went through this same routine with a particularly clever and literate student, and her response made me check out the book from the library that day.

I read the flap copy, but was still unsure of what it was about.

"Any good?" I asked.

"Yes! Soooo good. You have to read it, I--just read it, oh my god."

"What's it about?"

"Just--just read it."

So, I did and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak now ranks as one of my favorite books of all time.

SPOILER ALERT: Now, I have no intention of spoiling the ending of this book. That would be cruel and unusual punishment. But, I had no idea what this book was about when I started reading it, and I think that added to my enjoyment. I wish the same enjoyment for you. So, just read it.

I'm also afraid my brief synopsis might make this book sound depressing, and if you're anything like me, that means you won't read it. (The movie, Hotel Rwanda sat on top of my DVD player for months, I'd heard it was good, but I knew what it was about, and I just never really wanted to watch it.)

Zusak's brilliance, however, is that despite its subject matter, and despite the tragedies within The Book Thief, I would never describe it as depressing.

It's about Liesel Meminger, a little girl who is sent to live with foster parents in Nazi Germany. The Book Thief is narrated by Death.

Zusak is a genius for how he breaks convention with his narrator. The structure of the text is sometimes choppy, with Death giving an aside and taking us out of the main plot, and describing some seemingly unrelated event or soul collection. Death also tells us the outcome of the characters straight off the bat, in his cryptic, non-human way, of course. It's amazing how there's no obvious attempt at building suspense. I knew a character would die, yet I found myself unable to put it down, and turning the pages just so I could find out how the foretold events would transpire.

Death describes the color of the sky each time he takes a soul and his detachment at the human tragedy of the Holocaust makes the book chilling, but bearable.

Of the millions of souls he reaps, of all the horrific things he witnesses, Death chooses to tell us about Liesel. Her brother dies on a train in the snow, on the way to Hans and Rosa Hubermann, her new foster parents.

Rosa calls Liesel saumensch (swine-girl) and hits her with a wooden spoon for misbehaving. Hans plays the accordion and comforts Liesel when she screams from her nightmares every single night.

Liesel befriends Rudy Steiner and when their hatred of Hitler, and frustration of starving under Nazi control, becomes unbearable, they steal. They're thieves and that makes them feel better.

Liesel struggles with being a good girl. Her dead brother appears to admonish her when she loses her temper, and doing what's right is constantly at odds with doing what's necessary for survival in Nazi Germany. But despite her thieving, actually because of her thieving, Liesel is good.

Liesel is courageous. She survives the deaths of loved ones, does whatever she can to keep her family safe, and gives hope to a room full of terrified neighbors. Liesel doesn't have any super powers and she doesn't defeat any bad guys, but she's one of the most heroic characters I've had the privilege of reading about.

And believe me, reading The Book Thief is a privilege. As a writer, Zusak's work is the beat-my-head-against-the-wall-because-I'll-never-be-able-to-write-like-this kind of inspiring.

Ok, so I've already said too much. Go read The Book Thief.

I'm off to troll my bookshelves in search of the next heroine to get hooked on.

All You Need is Love: Madeleine L'Engle's Meg Murry

2009-09-26T16:36:00.018-05:00

OK Junkies, I'm fighting off the flu--crossing fingers it's not swine--and my belief that my favorite drug does indeed serve medicinal purposes has been reaffirmed. I've spent the last seven hours finishing Suzanne Collins's Catching Fire and I believe it has done more to suppress my cough, relieve my aches, and reduce my fever than the acetaminophen, vitamin c, tea, and lozenges I've been swallowing--well, maybe.

Although I'm tempted to gush about the courage of Katniss, I'll stick to my plan for this post and leave the gushing to my nose--I'm disgusting, I know. Oh don't worry, we'll return to the woes of Panem and District 12 on another day, but for now, let's talk about Meg Murry.

SPOILER ALERT: I am usually a huge stickler about spoilers--just ask my dad--but seeing how this book was published almost 50 years ago, I'm showing no mercy. So if you have not read A Wrinkle in Time, do so now.

Even though she has no special powers, she's not physically strong, she's not the smartest in her family, she's not sexy, and not popular, Meg Murry is the ultimate heroine. Actually, I think make those things her the kick-ass heroine she is.

In a Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle, Meg is awakened in the attic of her family's farm house by a storm. Her parents are scientists and her dad has been missing for weeks. Meg's an awkward and unattractive adolescent, with no friends except the lanky Calvin O'Keefe. She feels inferior to her beautiful scientist mother and can't connect with her two brainiac brothers, Sandy and Dennys.

She shares a special bond with her little brother, Charles Wallace, who has super-human intelligence and the ability to communicate with creatures across the space-time continuum. (Side note: I used to believe my little brother also had super-human intelligence and the ability to communicate with creatures across the space-time continuum, but ten years later, I'm still reeling from the disappointment when he reached puberty, fell in love with automatic weapons and Family Guy, thereby disproving my theory).

Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin end up travelling by tesseract, an actual wrinkle in the space-time continuum. Now, for me, this is where L'Engle goes from good to brilliant. I'm no scientist, and have never set foot into a physics or higher mathematics classroom. But I'm pretty sure L'Engle was on to something. I don't know if her explanation of the 5th dimension and space-time travel was based on any actual theories, and I'm feeling too woozy to look it up, but I'm buying it.

I took tesseracts as fact when I was eight and twenty years later I think L'Engle's description of time travel at least puts the writer's of Lost to shame. In addition, L'Engle's brilliance gives us creatures from other planets that defy our conventional notion of an alien. A creature who looks repulsive and ugly but is kind and loving, and aliens who feel instead of talk or think guide Meg, Charles, and Calvin on their journey.

Calvin is athletic, and Charles Wallace is too smart for his own good, but of course it is Meg who must save them and her imprisoned father. She doesn't karate chop her way to victory, or seduce the enemy, or even outsmart anyone. She saves the day with love. She overpowers the darkness of depression and self-doubt and loves her father, and Charles Wallace, to freedom. Now this might sound incredibly cheesy, but I've read the book 5 times and I feel the power of the message and the emotional truth of it each time.

Thus, my addiction began. I was hooked the second I finished it. At age eight, for the first time I felt the satisfaction and the longing at completing an amazing book. I was so fulfilled that it was so good, yet so sad that it was over. And I knew then, what I didn't remember until a few years ago, that this is what I want to do with my life. I want to write stories like this and make people feel that satisfaction and longing.

I devoured L'Engles other works. A Wind in the Door is arguably better than Wrinkle. It's darker, the stakes are higher, and the writing is more refined. But as my first taste of this delicious drug, I have a special fondness for A Wrinkle in Time. L'Engle's A House Like Lotus created in me the desire to explore Athens and its Ancient Greek ruins, a dream finally realized a few years ago.

I can only hope that the first dream Madeleine L'Engle inspired in me, to make a living as a young adult fantasy writer, will one day be fulfilled.

Ok, Junkies, sorry if I got a little sappy there, my fever is my excuse. Now I'm off in search of my next fix and the hope to escape with a heroine, and leave my headache behind.

Let's Begin at the Beginning

2009-09-19T21:14:00.007-05:00

I have a problem.

At work I get the shakes, counting the minutes til my next fix. Sometimes I slip up and talk to my co-workers about my drug of choice and they stare at me and back away slowly before whispering behind my back. Once at home, I lay back in my recliner, oblivious to the hours ticking by as I relish in my high. When I have a good stash, it’s the first thing I think about when I wake up, and I can’t sleep until I finish it. I’ve even started to make my own stuff and fantasize about selling it.

Ok, before this metaphor gets any more ridiculous and my mom calls for an intervention, let me be clear. I’m addicted to heroines.

I love the strong female leads in young adult novels, especially in urban fantasy. I know I’m not the only one. I’ve seen the high school girls shuffle through the hallways with the tell-tale books hidden beneath crooked arms. Some are even so brazen as to wear t-shirts displaying their addiction.

I hope to reach out to fellow addicts and together, we can form a support group. (But really I hope this ends up like any rehab program, and instead of quitting together, we’ll just trade stories of getting high and share secrets on where to get the good stuff. Because this is one habit I don’t want to kick.)

Well, let’s begin at the beginning. It all started watching Wonder Woman with my mom when I was a toddler (it’s always the mother’s fault). One look at that female kicking ass and I was hooked. Now I’m unclear of Wonder Woman’s origins, is she human or an alien? I also can’t recall, what exactly are her special powers? I just remember she had a magic whip. A woman who doesn’t need super-human strength to beat up bad guys is even better.

Then there was She-Ra, Princess of Power. SOOOO much better than He-Man, I don’t care what anyone says. And if I remember correctly, she had to save He-Man’s ass a few times. She had a magic sword, some type of magic horse, a pink castle made of clouds, and she didn’t need no man. Although I think she had a boyfriend, Beau, or something. But she was always saving his ass too. The best part was that her alter ego (can’t remember her name) had to PRETEND to be weak. I think there’s some kind of feminist lesson there…

I had the whole get up. See picture --------------->
I remember swinging that sword around in the backyard, I was unbeatable. I shouted at my dad to “Read the Words!” at the end of each episode where there was some sappy summary and moral to the story. My true addiction started when he said, “Read them yourself.”

Of course, growing up there continued to be non-literary heroines to feed my need. Rogue was my favorite X-Man in the cartoon and I am disappointed at how weak she is in the movies. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena the Warrior Princess were my high school TV standbys.

But next week, we’ll talk about the book and its heroine that changed my life. Be strong until then.