My favorites of '08

Ahh! 2008 is mere hours from being over. Crazytown. I read tons of good books this year. (And a few bad ones...) Here are 10 of the best I read this year (that were also released this year, and in no particular order):

Madapple by Christina Meldrum
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead (I'm still mourning over the ending.)
Paper Towns by John Green
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert
Violet in Private by Melissa Walker
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers
Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan (I know this wasn't released this year. But I read it this year and it was amazing and I loved it and it's by David Levithan, and his books don't have to obey rules. So it goes on the list!)

And just because, here are some things I'm looking forward to next year:

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King
The Season by Sarah Maclean
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
and all the other 2009 Debs books

Rowan of the Wood by Christine and Ethan Rose

[description from B&N]

Rowan of the Wood is the story of Cullen, a 12-year old outcast who lives with an unbearable foster family in California. He travels through the redwood forest every day on his way to school, losing himself in books and the fantasy world of elves, fairies, and wizards. Cullen's life changes incredibly one day when he uncovers an ancient magic wand that is inhabited by a powerful wizard, Rowan. Inadvertently, Cullen releases Rowan from the wand and finds himself possessed by the wizard in times of crisis. Rowan and Cullen try to understand what has happened to them, only to discover they share a deeper problem. Fourteen centuries ago, Rowan and his bride Fiana were separated on their wedding day. While Rowan was trapped in time, Fiana used dark magic to stay alive and search for her missing husband. Over the centuries, Fiana descended deeper into darkness becoming something evil. Imaginative and poignant, the story of the deep, evolving relationship between Rowan and Cullen enchants the reader and keeps us spellbound throughout the entire adventure.

Review:

I've noticed that this book is often compared to Harry Potter and is being hailed as the next Harry Potter. So let's get something straight: it's no Harry Potter.* But it's still pretty good.

For part of the book, the chapters alternate between Cullen's current story and Fiana's past. I have to say, I liked Fiana's story a bit better. She met all sorts of magicy people and evil people. Very exciting and interesting. And I found it especially interesting to see how her interactions with these people turned her into the bitter villain that she is in the present.

I did enjoy the present too. The fact that Cullen was possessed by Rowan was original and done well. It wasn't like "I am possessed I will destroy your life because I am stupid MUAHAHA" but it was like "I'm trying not to ruin you life." Also, Cullen's reactions to being possessed by a magic guy from Caledonia accurate and believable, considering the fact that he loves fantasy books and wants to be rid of his nasty foster family.

Speaking of Cullen disliking his foster family, I was really kind of hoping for more development of the conflict between him and his family. It kind of fell off at the end. I was also hoping for more about his real family. It's not completely clear what happened to them, and I wanted to know more about what happened to them and how it's changed/will change Cullen in the future.

I definitely want to know what happens to Cullen next and will be on the lookout for the sequel when it comes out.

8/10


*I think the only person who could potentially write a series better than Harry Potter would be David Levithan. Though I'm not even sure he could do it.

New Year's Resolutions

I was tagged by the awesome Bookluver Carol to share my New Year's Resolutions. I haven't thought of any resolutions, so I suppose I will have to make them up on the spot, won't I?

1. Stop that nasty procrastination problem of mine. Both for writing reviews (I have 7 to write right now. Whoops.) and for schoolwork.
   
2. Read more. I never get time during the week to read. Most distressing, that is.
   
3. Write more. The only time I write is during NaNo. That needs fixing.
   
4. Be more willing to get rid of books. There are some I don't like that I have, but I won't get rid of them because I'm too attached.
   

I'm supposed to tag other people, but I'm not sure who has done this yet and don't feel like looking. So if you want to be tagged, consider yourself tagged.

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas- Hannukah- Kwanzaa-Winter Solstice-or whatever you celebrate! I hope you all got plenty of books- I know I did! I'm quite excited to read them all. It will take a while though.

Now please enjoy this song from the movie White Christmas (I saw that movie for the first time this year and WOW! It's quite festive. And awesome.):

Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

I'm going to start this review with a story that shows just how much I wanted this book:

It’s December 22, and I’m finally buying my mom’s Christmas gift. I walk into Barnes and Noble, and there are 10 times more people in here than there usually are.

I go up the escalator, straight to the YA section, even though I’m not allowed to buy anything for myself. My mom says I can’t buy anything for myself in case someone buys me it for Christmas. I think this is a ridiculous restriction; I could just buy things that aren’t on my wishlist. But nooooo, I can’t do that.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to see if some of the books released on the 23^rd were put out today.

I walk over to the larger side of the YA section, looking for the ‘S’s, hoping to find Cracked Up to Be. And behold! There are three copies of it sitting there!

I must have it.

I grab my cell phone out of my pocket and call my house.

“Hi [insert my real name here].”

“Can I get one book?” I ask my mom.

“No.”

“Please? I really really want it!”

“Which book?

“Cracked Up to Be.”

“No.”

“But I really really want it! PLEASE!”

“No, I told you--.”

“PLEASE!”

She sighs. “I’ll give it to you when you get home then.”

“YAY BYE!”

I hang up the phone and resist the urge to happy dance. There are too many people around for me to do that.

When I get home, present in hand, Cracked Up to Be is sitting on the kitchen table, calling my name. I grab it from the table and run to my room, eager to read the book. I put down my mom’s present, still in the B&N bag, sit on my bed, and begin reading Cracked Up to Be.

And now, the description (from B&N):

Perfect Parker Fadley isn’t so perfect anymore. She’s quit the cheerleading squad, she’s dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she’s failing school. Her parents are on a constant suicide watch and her counselors think she’s playing games…but what they don’t know, the real reason for this whole mess, isn’t something she can say out loud. It isn’t even something she can say to herself. A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault. If she can just remove herself from everybody--be totally alone--then everything will be okay...The problem is, nobody will let her.

And now the review:

As you can tell from my story, I really really wanted this book and had super high expectations. All the reviews I read were nothing short of glowing, which only raised my expectations. But I'm happy to report that my expectations were met and maybe even exceeded.

This book was ZOMG AMAZING. When I finished it, I was so happy because it was so good. (I even tweeted about it! Click here.) The plot was so exciting, in a calm sort of way. Yeah, that kind of made no sense. Allow me to (attempt to) explain. There's the Horrible Thing That Happened that made Parker all sarcastic and bitter and mad, but the Horrible Thing That Happened isn't revealed until the very end. But throughout the book, Parker has flashbacks to the Horrible Thing That Happened, revealing that story pieces at a time. It's a slow buildup, but it brings a lot of anxiety. I wanted to know what the Horrible Thing That Happened was so bad that I couldn't put the book down, even though I was really hungry when I was reading this and wanted food. There was so much buildup to the Big Reveal and I was guessing the whole time. And when the Horrible Thing That Happened was revealed, I was so shocked. Not because I was wrong about it (I was wrong), but because it actually wasn't anticlimactic! I was kind of expecting it to be anticlimactic because of all the buildup, but it wasn't, which I really appreciated.

I must talk about Parker. Parker was AWESOME. She was so developed and had so many issues that she's one of the most believable characters I've read about in a while. I loved how she mentioned things from when she was still "perfect" and how they crazy they made her. You can definitely see the change the Horrible Thing That Happened brought, and that change was completely believable.

A short summary of this long review: This book is amazing. Read it.

9.5/10

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

[description from B&N]

Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, she meets a boy who introduces her to crank. At first she finds it freeing, but soon Kristina's personality disappears inside the drug. What began as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul, and her life.

Yay for short summaries!

Review:

Um, why did I not jump on the Ellen Hopkins bandwagon sooner? I've been waiting to read one of her books for literally over a year and finally got around to reading one. Now I am mad at myself because I shouldn't have waited so long because this book was SO GOOD.

I'm really glad that this book is told in verse. If it wasn't, I really don't think it would have been as emotional and heart wrenching as it is. Because seriously, it's so emotional it hurts. It's got to be emotional; it's told from the POV an addicted person. The whole time I just wanted to either cry or yell out "NO! DON'T GO DOWN THAT ROAD!" like a crazy person. Even though Kristina wasn't developed as well as she could be because not much of her pre-addiction life was included, I still really wanted to jump in the book and drag her off to rehab or something because I hated reading about mistakes and inability to fix them. I also wanted to jump in the book and beat her (biological) father and her first "boyfriend" because they were so aggravating and stupid.

Highly recommended, but only if you're ready to be put in an automatic sad/angry mood.

9/10

Steph is being way too awesome this week.

I'm so jealous of her and her Awesome Week. (It's now called that. Girl Week doesn't tell you how amazing the week was.)

I'm not so awesome since I'm so late on posting about it. But what I thought I'd do is link you to my favorite posts of the week. See how I turn my slowness into something good?

So, favorite guest blog was C.K. Kelly Martin's. Everyone likes that post. If you don't, you're weird.

Favorite interview was the one with Libba Bray. Just look at that second comment I left!

Favorite review was the one for Ten Cents a Dance. I want that book. Badly.

And the giveaway for the book I most want is the one for Ten Cents a Dance.

Bloom by Elizabeth Scott

[description from B&N]

Lauren has a good life: decent grades, great friends, and a boyfriend every girl lusts after. So why is she so unhappy?

It takes the arrival of Evan Kirkland for Lauren to figure out the answer: She's been holding back. She's been denying herself a bunch of things because staying with her loyal and gorgeous boyfriend, Dave, is the "right" thing to do. After all, who would give up the perfect boyfriend?

But as Dave starts talking more and more about their life together, planning a future Lauren simply can't see herself in -- and as Lauren's craving for Evan, and moreover, who she is with Evan becomes all the more fierce -- Lauren realizes she needs to make a choice...before one is made for her.

Review:

Does anyone else think that is impossible for Elizabeth Scott to write anything bad? Because now that I've read this, I've read all her books, and all were extremely good. Except for Living Dead Girl, which was pretty much incredible. While this wasn't her best book- it's my least favorite of her's-, it's still pretty good.

It's a "forbidden" romance story more than anything. Forbidden is in quotes because Lauren COULD HAVE DUMPED HER OTHER BOYFRIEND AT ANY TIME, and then she would be just fine dating Evan. But noooo, she just had to be very annoying and all "I can't dump him, I just can't!" She had her reasons, but still. It was very annoying to hear her do this. Her complaining was realistic and made sense, but I'm still going to complain about it because I really just couldn't stand it. So aside from Lauren's complaints about her not being able to dump Perfect Boyfriend Dave, I really thought the whole love triangley "forbidden" romance thing was really good. Lauren and Evan's relationship was developed well and was- dare I say it?- cute.

My main complaint is that the conflicts with the minor characters weren't completely cleared up and I still wanted to know what happened with them. Lauren's best friend Katie, for example, had her own problems with her boyfriend Marcus and problems at home that affected both her and Lauren in different ways, but at the end I felt that her problems kind of fell in the background despite being a major source of other problems. Up until the end Katie's problems were dealt with realistically and well without becoming the main problems, but they still kind of fell back at the end.

Still, if you are an Elizabeth Scott fan (you all should be because she is amazing) or a romancey novel fan, you'll like this one even though this review sounds way more negative than it actually is.

8.5/10

Waiting on Wednesday (4)

Today's pick for Waiting on Wednesday (started by Jill over at Breaking the Spine) is...

The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

description from Sarah's FAQ page:

Q: Okay, so this book of yours, what is it about?

A: Well, lots of things, but the book begins with sixteen year old Nick, who lives in Exeter with his brother Alan and his Mum – but not for long. They’ve been on the run from magicians their whole lives. Magicians are people with powers who increase those powers by summoning demons. In return, the demons get to wander the world controlling and possessing human beings. When Alan is marked for possession by a demon, the brothers have to stop running and try to hunt down the people who have always hunted them. Things are not made any easier by the arrival of two strangers, a girl called Mae who both the brothers have feelings for, and her brother Jamie who also bears a demon’s mark. (The moral of this story: Brothers. Nothing but trouble.)

[To be released summer '09]

---

Eep, I can't wait to read this one. It sounds awesome. And have you read Sarah's blog? It's so funny. Her book doesn't sound too funny, but I'm sure it will be awesome nonetheless.

Love, Meg by C. Leigh Purtill

[description from B&N]

Meg Shanley always believed that her parents died when she was a baby. Since then, she and her older sister Lucie have lived a nomadic life, never settling down long enough for Meg to feel like anything but the new girl. Alone in her uncertainty and confusion, Meg writes letters to Jennifer Aniston for advice. Unlike Lucie, Jen is stable. She's on Meg's TV-no matter where Meg happens to be living-every night at eleven. For a few years, Jennifer even writes back.

But now Jen's letters have stopped. Meg and Lucie are in LA, in a tiny apartment, when a stranger shows up and reveals a seemingly impossible secret. She discovers she has relatives in New York she never knew existed. Meg travels across the country to find her family-and uncover the truth about her life. But instead, what she finds is the source of her own inner strength.

C. Leigh Purtill's surprising and suspenseful first novel captures the exquisite joy and deep sorrow of a teenager who will stop at nothing to discover who she really is.

Review:

When I first started this one, I was just thinking "Oh gosh, another nomadic kid book." You know the ones I'm talking about: kid has no real parents and never stays in one place. They don't have many friends because they always move around, and they have one thing they cling to. In this case, Meg clings to Jennifer Aniston. (Good golly that sounds weird.) Or rather, the letters she sends to Jennifer Aniston. That being said, I was kind of hesitant to continue reading because sometimes nomadic kid books aren't good or are really cliche. But thankfully, once Big Twist That Really Kind Of Came Out Of Nowhere happened, the book left the Realm of Cliche and entered the Realm of Very Good.

Well, why is it being placed of Realm of Very Good? you are (maybe?) asking yourself. Mostly because of the characters. The plot isn't too exciting- there are excitingish parts though, that have to do with a few relatives- but the characters emanated realisticness. They each had their quirks and flaws, which made their interactions and decisions real. Meg especially was realistic and for once, was actually not an annoying protagonist. She thought things through as best she could and was determined to figure out who she truly is without being all "the world! It hates me! Things are so hard! Pity me!"

And I loved the ending. Not overly happy and full of rainbows or overly depressing and full of like, dementors or something.

Definitely recommended, especially if you want something that flies by quickly.

8.5/10

Waiting on Wednesday (3)

Yay Waiting on Wednesday! Yay for Jill at Breaking the Spine for starting it! Yay books!

Pick this week:

Tales of Beedle the Bard by the one and only JK Rowling.

[no description, as they are all too long. But here's the amazon page. But I can tell you that there are stories in it! With magical stuff! Yay magic!]

Dude, it's JK Rowling. Why would I not want this book?

Aaaaand guess what? This book comes out TOMORROW! That's not like a wait at all, but I wanted to post this anyway. xD

This article practically demands commentary.

What article am I talking about? Why, this article. (Link via Guys Lit Wire) It is demanding a little commentary from me, so here we go:

"Divorce in a young-adult novel means what being orphaned meant in a fairy tale: vulnerability, danger, unwanted independence. It also means that the protagonists must confront the sexuality of their parents at the moment they least want to think about such realities."

Kids with divorced parents live in a fairy tale?

WARNING: Here comes the Twilight talk. Oh, and spoilers for the series if you haven't finished. I even have a New Moon spoiler =0

"The reason for the move is that Mom [in Twilight] (a self-absorbed, childlike character)"

Bella isn't a self absorbed, childlike character now? With her "My hot vampire boyfriend who might kill me at any given moment but I'm staying with him anyway since I just love him wants me to stop talking to this hot werewolf boy I'm love with who also has the potential to kill me? THAT'S SO NOT FAIR!", I'd say she's a little childlike. Please don't make the mother look like the bad guy.

"I hate Y.A. novels; they bore me. "

-facepalm-


"Twilight is fantastic."

You liked Twilight, but you hate YA novels? Are you crazy?

" It’s [Twilight] a page-turner that pops out a lurching, frightening ending I never saw coming. "

Did you read a different book than I did?

"Bella is an old-fashioned heroine: bookish, smart, brave, considerate of others’ emotions, and naturally competent in the domestic arts"

Erm. "I kissed this hot werewolf boy because I love him, but then I went back to my even hotter vampire boyfriend!" and "OMG! My boyfriend totally left so I have to be zombie and ignore all my real friends, even though they tried so hard to make me feel welcome here!" is very considerate of others' emotions?

"Stephenie Meyer has re-created the sort of middle-class American youth in which it was unheard-of for a nice girl to be a sexual aggressor"

Have you read Breaking Dawn?

"I can’t remember a thing about geometry except the useless phrase side-angle-side, but for the rest of my life I’ll remember the bottle of red wine we bought at a package store a mile from school, and the certainty (since proved) that in the scheme of things, I had made exactly the right decision."

I thought your article was about Twilight, not your high school experiences.

There's much more I could comment on, but I will not, as I have to go finish my homework.