Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. Descriptions and such from goodreads.
Today I'm waiting on:
Miracle by Elizabeth Scott
I sat there and wondered again why I'd lived…
Megan is a miracle. At least, that’s what everyone says. Having survived a plane crash that killed everyone else on board, Megan knows she should be grateful just to be alive. The truth is, she
doesn’t feel like a miracle. In fact, she doesn’t feel anything at all. Then memories from the crash start coming back. Scared and alone, Megan doesn’t know who to turn to. Her entire community
seems unable—or maybe unwilling—to see her as anything but Miracle Megan. Except for Joe, the beautiful boy next door with a tragic past and secrets of his own... All Megan wants is for her life to get back to normal, but the harder she tries to live up to everyone’s expectations, the worse she feels. This time, she may be falling too fast to be saved…
--- Elizabeth Scott never lets me down with her work, and I know this one will be just as great as the rest of her books.
We interrupt your regularly scheduled reviews to bring you:
My excitement over the reveal of Trish Doller's cover for Something Like Normal!
My feelings on the aesthetics of this cover aside, I AM SO EXCITED! I am dying for this book to come out. I feel like it was only yesterday that it sold to a publisher, and now it has a cover and everything. *sniff*
And, if you haven't heard the premise, allow me:
A powerful debut novel about a young Marine's return home from Afghanistan and the new life and love he finds while fending off the ghosts of war.
When Travis Stephenson returns home from Afghanistan, his parents are on the brink of divorce, his brother has stolen his girlfriend and his car, and nightmares of his best friend getting killed keep him completely spooked. But when he runs into Harper Gray, a girl who despises him for trashing her reputation with a middle school lie, life actually starts looking up. As Travis and Harper see more of each other, he starts falling for her and the way through the family meltdown, the post-traumatic stress, and the possibility of an interesting future begins to emerge.
His sense of humor, sense of his own strength, and incredible sense of honor make Travis an irresistible and eminently lovable hero in this fantastic and timely debut novel.
Seriously, how can I resist a summary like that? The wait until June will most assuredly torture me.
What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.
From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.
Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.
This one sounds delightfully intense, and I am sure it will meet my high expectations.
You Have Seven Messages by Stewart Lewis
It's been a year since Luna's mother, the fashion-model wife of a successful film director, was hit and killed by a taxi in the East Village. Luna, her father, and her little brother, Tile, are still struggling with grief.
When Luna goes to clean out her mother's old studio, she's stunned to find her mom's cell phone there—charged and holding seven unheard messages. As Luna begins to listen to them, she learns more about her mother's life than she ever wanted to know . . . and she comes to realize that the tidy tale she's been told about her mother's death may not be the whole truth.
Heck yes creepy things!
And no summary included because it would spoil its predecessors, Nightshade and Wolfsbane:
Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer
I still haven't read book two, Wolfsbane, so I'm thinking I may have to read that and this back-to-back soon.
Every teen girl fantasizes about having a double and best friend rolled into one-an alter ego with whom she can trade places, allowing her to disappear. Samara is a troubled and lonely adolescent, prone to cutting, who desperately craves both intimacy and escape from her unfulfilled life...until she meets her reflection, Dee, the seeming answer to all her problems.
With dual and dueling points of view, Eyes in the Mirror provides a perspective on one girl's life never before seen in YA fiction: her own and from her freer, wilder reflection.
Review:
Although it didn't sound like my typical read, I picked up Eyes in the Mirror because of it's intriguing premise. Now, having read it, I think that the premise is still one of the only major things the book has going for it.
I really did enjoy this book's beginning, as the girls explore the idea of switching places through mirrors. I liked seeing them consider the positives and negatives and put their theories in to action, for as they discover their abilities, they reveal their problems and concerns about their own lives and having to try to fix someone else's. However, as the book went on and the girls become increasingly involved in each others' lives, the things that occur happen all too quickly. The changing point-of-view between Dee and Samara allowed for excellent insights into both girls' lives, but once they start changing things for each other, the switch prevented the changes from occurring at a normal pace.
I also was not fond of either of the girls, making it hard for me to become invested in their stories; both of them made such childish mistakes that I was more annoyed with them than anything. Both of them also had similar voices, making it hard for me to differentiate between them, but it was not even a good voice. Sometimes they would say things that were just ridiculously unrealistic. I rolled my eyes at so many things they said, and even at the things even the minor characters said, because the minor characters are so insignificant and yet always manage to make things awkward in their brief appearances.
It's got an awesome premise, but I found Eyes in the Mirror to be far too underdeveloped in all regards for me to really enjoy it.
Since it's Thanksgiving here in the U.S., I thought I'd take the time to thank you all for sticking with my blog and me for however long you have been reading it. You readers make it all worthwhile and I can't thank you enough for all the happiness you bring me.
And, just because it's from my favorite movie and holiday appropriate:
Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. Descriptions and such from goodreads.
Today I'm waiting on:
7 Clues to Winning You by Kristin Walker
When a humiliating picture of Blythe goes viral, she's instantly the target of ridicule at her new school. To salvage her reputation, Blythe teams up with Luke to win the Senior Scramble scavenger hunt. But Luke is an unlikely ally and potentially can't be trusted.
Perhaps it's his Shakespearean witticisms that reel Blythe in despite her better judgment . . . or maybe she just craves the thrill of the game. But as the hunt progresses, their relationship heats up. Soon their madcap mischief spirals out of control. Blythe is faced with arrest and expulsion, among other catastrophes - until Luke shows her what the Scramble (and love) is really about.
---
I loved Kristin Walker's debut, A Match Made in High School, and expect this book to be just as witty and fun.
Thanks to the lovely C. at Big Honcho Media, I'm giving away three awesome looking titles from Scholastic's This is Teen.
One lucky winner will get:
iBoy by Kevin Brooks
Before the attack, Tom Harvey was just an average teen. But a head-on collision with high technology has turned him into an actualized App. Fragments of a shattered iPhone are embedded in his brain. And they’re having an extraordinary effect on his every thought. Because now Tom knows, sees, and can do more than any normal boy ever could. But with his new powers comes a choice: Seek revenge on the vicious gangs who rule the South London housing project where he lives, and who violated his friend Lucy? Or keep quiet and move on? Not even the search engine in his head can predict the shocking outcome of iBoy’s actions. A wifi, thriller by YA master Kevin Brooks.
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
In the aftermath of a war, America’s landscape has been ravaged and two thirds of the population left dead from a vicious strain of influenza. Fifteen-year-old Stephen Quinn and his family were among the few that survived and became salvagers, roaming the country in search of material to trade for food and other items essential for survival. But when Stephen’s grandfather dies and his father falls into a coma after an accident, Stephen finds his way to Settler’s Landing, a community that seems too good to be true, where there are real houses, barbecues, a school, and even baseball games. Then Stephen meets strong, defiant, mischievous Jenny, who refuses to accept things as they are. And when they play a prank on the town bully’s family that goes horribly wrong, chaos erupts, and they find themselves in the midst of a battle that will change Settler’s Landing forever.
Underdogs by Markus Zusak
Before The Book Thief, Markus Zusak wrote a trilogy of novels about the Wolfe brothers: The Underdogs, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, and Getting the Girl. Cameron and Ruben Wolfe are champions at getting into fights, coming up with half-baked schemes, and generally disappointing girls, their parents, and their much more motivated older siblings. They’re intensely loyal to each other, brothers at their best and at their very worst. But when Cameron falls head over heels for Ruben’s girlfriend, the strength of their bond is tested to its breaking point.
In My Mailbox was started by The Story Siren and inspired by Pop Culture Junkie. Descriptions and such from goodreads.
Awesome things for review:
The Disenchantments by Nina Lacour
Colby and Bev have a long-standing pact: graduate, hit the road with Bev's band, and then spend the year wandering around Europe. But moments after the tour kicks off, Bev makes a shocking announcement: she's abandoning their plans - and Colby - to start college in the fall.
But the show must go on and The Disenchantments weave through the Pacific Northwest, playing in small towns and dingy venues, while roadie- Colby struggles to deal with Bev's already-growing distance and the most important question of all: what's next?
Morris Award—finalist Nina LaCour draws together the beauty and influences of music and art to brilliantly capture a group of friends on the brink of the rest of their lives.
I definitely did a happy dance when this book showed up.
Dark Eyes by William Richter
Get ready for the vigilante girl detective of the next generation. Wally was adopted from a Russian orphanage as a child and grew up in a wealthy New York City family. At fifteen, her obsessive need to rebel led her to life on the streets. Now the sixteen-year-old is beautiful and hardened, and she's just stumbled across the possibility of discovering who she really is. She'll stop at nothing to find her birth mother before Klesko—her darkeyed father—finds her. Because Klesko will stop at nothing to reclaim the fortune Wally's mother stole from him long ago. Even if that means murdering his own blood. But Wally's had her own killer training, and she's hungry for justice. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for teens, this debut thriller introduces our next big series heroine!
I haven't read many thriller-esque books, but this seems like a nice introduction.
There is No Dog by Meg Rosoff
Meet your unforgettable protagonist: God, who, as it turns out, is a 19-year-old boy living in the present-day and sharing an apartment with his long-suffering fifty-something personal assistant. Unfortunately for the planet, God is lazy and, frankly, hopeless. He created all of the world's species in six days because he couldn't summon the energy to work for longer. He gets Africa and America mixed up. And his beleagured assistant has his work cut out for him when God creates a near-apolcalyptic flood, having fallen asleep without turning the bath off. There is No Dog is a darkly funny novel from one of our most delightfully unpredictable writers.
I dig weird premises and this one is one of the weirdest I've seen.
Ripper by Stefan Petrucha
You thought you knew him. You were dead wrong Carver Young dreams of becoming a detective, despite growing up in an orphanage with only crime novels to encourage him. But when he is adopted by Detective Hawking of the world famous Pinkerton Agency, Carver is given not only the chance to find his biological father, he finds himself smack in the middle of a real life investigation: tracking down a vicious serial killer who has thrown New York City into utter panic. When the case begins to unfold, however, it’s worse than he could have ever imagined, and his loyalty to Mr. Hawking and the Pinkertons comes into question. As the body count rises and the investigation becomes dire, Carver must decide where his true loyalty lies. Full of whip-smart dialogue, kid-friendly gadgets, and featuring a then New York City Police Commisioner Teddy Roosevelt, Ripper challenges everything you thought you knew about the world’s most famous serial killer.
Jack the Ripper is freaking awesome so I can't wait to get to this one.
The winner of the Crossed prize pack is Olivia. Congrats! I'll email you shortly.
And, because the unofficial rule of my blog is that I get to post non-bookish things in contest winner posts, I must share that I am insanely excited to see We Need to Talk About Kevin:
Today's topic is "Top Ten Books That Have Been On My Shelf For The Longest But I've Never Read," which is a topic that I like because it allows me to start being held accountable for some of the books I've had for ages.
1. The Zombie Survival Guideby Max Brooks - Zombies are some of my favorite things, so it only makes sense that I would jump at the chance to read this. But, I haven't. Oops.
2. The Boy in the Striped Pajamasby John Boyne - You would think that the movie adaptation would have compelled me to read this one sooner, but that thought would be wrong.
3. The King's Roseby Alisa M. Libby - I've had a few books that came for review that I just can't bring myself to read, and this is the one I've had the longest. It sounds like something I would like but I just haven't gotten to it.
4. The Secret Circle #1-2 by L.J. Smith - I actually meant to read this one recently so I could watch the TV adaptation, but that plan did not work out so well.
5. Cybele's Secretby Juliet Marillier - I loooved this book's companion, Wildwood Dancing, and even I can't figure out why it's still sitting unread.
6. The Supernaturalistby Eoin Colfer - Eoin Colfer was everyone's favorite author in fifth grade because of Artemis Fowl (another series I haven't read) so I've been meaning to read something by him, but alas.
7. Vacations from Hell - This book has stories by some of my favorite authors (Maureen Johnson, Libba Bray) but I haven't read it yet because I always find anthologies a bit of a pain to read.
8. Glass Houses by Rachel Caine - I think what's prevented me from reading this is that is the first in a very long (eight books? nine?) series, and I don't have the energy to devote to a series at the moment.
9. The Maze Runner by James Dashner - I got this book when it first came out, and it is liked by even my non-reader brother, but I still haven't gotten to it. Lame.
10. Zombies vs. Unicorns - I haven't had this book quite as long as some of the others on this list but because it contains so many authors I love, I am still confused as to why I haven't read it.
Goal: read at least two of these by the end of the year. Hopefully I can do it.
Sixteen-Year-Old Jace Witherspoon arrives at the doorstep of his estranged brother Christian with a re-landscaped face (courtesy of his father’s fist), $3.84, and a secret.
He tries to move on, going for new friends, a new school, and a new job, but all his changes can’t make him forget what he left behind—his mother, who is still trapped with his dad, and his ex-girlfriend, who is keeping his secret.
At least so far.
Worst of all, Jace realizes that if he really wants to move forward, he may first have to do what scares him most: He may have to go back. First-time novelist Swati Avasthi has created a riveting and remarkably nuanced portrait of what happens after. After you’ve said enough, after you’ve run, after you’ve made the split—how do you begin to live again? Readers won’t be able to put this intense page-turner down.
Review:
I hadn't read a single bad review of Split before reading it myself, so I had woefully high expectations. However, even though it didn't spark much of an emotional connection in me that would have made me "love" it as opposed to just "really liking" it, it definitely lives up to the praise I heard.
It's hard to deal with the subject of abuse without sounding like an after-school special, but Split manages to bypass being that special despite all the chances it had to turn into something resembling a Lifetime movie. Although Jace has so many problems to deal with (the abuse he faced at the hands of his father, his reconnection with his estranged brother, dealing with a new school and friends, among other issues) it never seems like too much. There's an excellent balance between the time spent on his various problems, even if some of the time could have been used more efficiently to make the supporting characters more believable. Still, the constant barrage of issues provides for a consistently attention-grabbing read, and the weaving together of all the problems makes them even more intense than they would be on their own.
However, the intense problems would be boring without an equally compelling narrator, but thankfully, Jace fits perfectly. He isn't necessarily funny, but he has a light enough side to make even the most tense moments a bit more bearable. He also has a dark side, which is definitely not a happy thing to read about, but because he acknowledges and deals with his past mistakes, it makes him a much more realistic character. I wish there was a bit more about his relationship with his brother, for he was definitely the one who intrigued me more than the rest of the characters. I loved what I got to see between the pair because each of their interactions is charged with tension and just enough awkwardness but also with a compassion that made their relationship so emotional.
Perhaps the development of some of the minor characters would have sparked feelings of "!!!" in me, but even without those feelings, I found Split to be quite an intense, heartbreaking, and excellent read.
I got a bunch of review books this week, so many that including descriptions would cause this post to be ridiculously long. Thus, a list:
The Catastrophic History of You and Meby Jess Rothenberg - I'm a sucker for books narrated by dead characters, so I'm betting I'll at least like, if not love, this one.
Try Not to Breathe by Jennifer R. Hubbard - If there's anything I like more than dead narrators it's books with intense premises like this.
Born Wickedby Jessica Spotswood - Witches are one paranormal creature I can get behind, so I'm looking forward to this one.
Underdogsby Markus Zusak - This is a compilation of Zusak's previous novels The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, and Getting the Girl. I love the two Zusak books I've read, The Book Thief and I Am the Messenger and am dying to get to these three.
In other news, you may have noticed I skipped posting three times last week, which I haven't done since, like, 2008. I think I've finally accepted that I can't post every day and am now going to focus on quality rather than quantity. I think it will be a nice change.
Spoilers for the first book in the series, The Ghost and the Goth, ahead! Read my review of book one here.
[description from goodreads]
After being sent back from the light, Alona Dare - former homecoming queen, current Queen of the Dead - finds herself doing something she never expected: working. Instead of spending days perfecting her tan by the pool (her typical summer routine when she was, you know, alive), Alona must now cater to the needs of other lost spirits. By her side for all of this - ugh - “helping of others” is Will Killian: social outcast, seer of the dead, and someone Alona cares about more than she’d like.
Before Alona can make a final ruling on Will’s “friend” or “more” status, though, she discovers trouble at home. Her mom is tossing out Alona’s most valuable possessions, and her dad is expecting a new daughter with his wicked wife. Is it possible her family is already moving on? Hello! She’s only been dead for two months! Thankfully, Alona knows just the guy who can put a stop to this mess.
Unfortunately for Alona, Will has other stuff on his mind, and Mina, a young (and beautiful) seer, is at the top of the list. She’s the first ghost-talker Will’s ever met—aside from his father—and she may hold answers to Will’s troubled past. But can she be trusted? Alona immediately puts a check mark in the “clearly not” column. But Will is - ahem - willing to find out, even if it means leaving a hurt and angry Alona to her own devices, which is never a good idea.
Packed with romance, lovable characters, and a killer cliffhanger, Queen of the Dead is the out-of-this-world sequel to The Ghost and the Goth.
Review:
The Ghost and the Goth surprised me with how funny and purely enjoyable it was, so I was hoping for the same from this sequel. Luckily, even with the things I didn't like, this book completely met my expectations and I liked it just as much as its predecessor.
The strength of this book really lies in the voices of its two narrators, Alona and Will. Although Alona is still a bit annoying because of her refusal to listen to Will's advice and her tendency to get into situations that will surely backfire, no matter what she gets herself into, she always manages to make her snark, freak-outs, and more vulnerable moments, a blast to read. Will's chapters are equally as nice not only because he provides a respite from Alona's strong personality, but also because he has a whole different set of problems. I wish some of the supporting characters, mainly the new people, were as developed as the hero and heroine, but even though the new characters didn't get as much attention, I was more than satisfied with Alona and Will.
Because of the dual narrative, there is also always plenty going on in this book. Will and Alona spend a lot of time apart in this installment, which made me sad because they're such a nice pair, but happy because they each get into different predicaments. The constantly rotating point of view did make it difficult for each person's story lines to really start moving, which annoyed me because I wanted to know more about the shady activities they were getting involved with, but because there's always at least something mysterious happening, I did not mind as much as I would have otherwise.
Although I wanted more from the new story lines and characters, I found Queen of the Dead to be a funny and exciting follow-up to the equally delightful The Ghost and the Goth.
Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. Descriptions and such from goodreads.
Today I'm waiting on:
For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.
Eighteen-year-old Luddite Elliot North has always known her place in this caste system. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. But now the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress and threatening Luddite control; Elliot’s estate is floundering; and she’s forced to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliott wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she abandoned him.
But Elliot soon discovers her childhood friend carries a secret—-one that could change the society in which they live…or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she has lost him forever.
Inspired by Jane Austen’s PERSUASION, FOR DARKNESS SHOWS THE STARS is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.
--- I haven't read Persuasion, this book's inspiration, but I may have to get on that soon because I'll need something to tide me over until this book is out. Seriously, this sounds like it will be one smart, intense, and just generally awesome book. Also, I am seriously liking the hipster cover.
Eliza is in a full-blown panic. Her notebook has been stolen-- the one that lists everything she wants but is afraid to go after. And the absolute worst person in the world has it: her ex-boyfriend, Cooper.
Like it's not bad enough that Cooper was lying to Eliza for their entire relationship-- now he and his friends are blackmailing her. They're giving her just one night to complete the most humiliating tasks on her list of they'll post her secrets online-- including the ones that aren't just about her.
Eliza's sure of only one thing: She isn't going down without a gith. Cooper may have what's left of her dignity, but she's not the only one with something to hide...
Review:
I expected a light and fast read from One Night That Changes Everything, and that's basically what I got, but not much more beyond that.
However, just because it isn't much beyond a fun read doesn't mean it's bad. Far from it! I actually really enjoyed reading this book; some of the things Eliza had to do were a bit too brief for my liking, or she didn't seem to learn all that much from them, but no matter what she had to do, there's always plenty of humor involved. I loved seeing what she would be forced into next because no matter what it was, it made me smile, especially as the tasks and Eliza's desire to avoid them go crazy. Because she has to do so many things, the book is also consistently amusing and held my attention, which made it even easier and faster to read.
However, there are a few glaring things I don't really like about this book. Eliza's friends were just baffling; they did seem dedicated to helping her, but often they would just leave places without telling her after promising to help. Their reasons for going were also insanely superficial to the point where I had trouble believing Eliza would be such good friends with them. I also really wish there were a few more scandalous things in this book (or at least more secret society stuff) because it always seemed like something big was going to pop up, but nothing ever really did.
Development issues aside, I found One Night That Changes Everything to be a delightfully fun and cute read-- just don't expect much more than that from it.
In the violent country of Ludania, the classes are strictly divided by the language they speak. The smallest transgression, like looking a member of a higher class in the eye while they are speaking their native tongue, results in immediate execution. Seventeen-year-old Charlaina has always been able to understand the languages of all classes, and she's spent her life trying to hide her secret. The only place she can really be free is the drug-fueled underground clubs where people go to shake off the oppressive rules of the world they live in. It's there that she meets a beautiful and mysterious boy named Max who speaks a language she's never heard before . . . and her secret is almost exposed.
Charlie is intensely attracted to Max, even though she can't be sure where his real loyalties lie. As the emergency drills give way to real crisis and the violence escalates, it becomes clear that Charlie is the key to something much bigger: her country's only chance for freedom from the terrible power of a deadly regime.
I really like The Body Finder, also by Kimberly Derting, so I can't wait to read more of her work.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
“You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
― Maya Angelou
And yet I can't come up with anything. I think I might have to start taking Saturdays off posting altogether because I've been totally drained lately. We'll see.
This category has both YA and adult fiction in it, but YA is all I read, and therefore the adult books do not matter to me. I felt a bit bad for voting because I've only read DivergentandCity of Fallen Angels from the choices, but I voted for Divergent anyway because I actually really liked it and would prefer it to win out of the other YA choices.
Choosing a book from this category was truly awful. How can someone expect me to pick between Real Live Boyfriends, Where She Went, Beauty Queens, and Lola and the Boy Next Door? That's just cruel. After much thought, I went with Lola, but I wish I could vote for all four because I love them. Also, I like the other books I've read in the category and think I would enjoy even the ones I haven't read, so I quite like this group as a whole.
The only things I've read from this category I didn't really like or liked but didn't LOVE, so I didn't vote for any of those. However, because this group is still relevant to my interests, I did what I always do when I don't know who to vote for: ask myself "what would my friend want me to do?" This time that friend was Erica of The Book Cellar, and my brain decided vote for The Iron Knightin her honor. However, I don't feel too bad about this vote because I feel like many people are not going to vote for individual books in this group so much as they will whole series, and I love the Iron Fey series. #dealwithit
I really like all the authors I've interacted with in this category, but eventually I went with Julie Kagawa because my love for her books eclipses that of the others, even if it's only by a small amount.
Today, I'm super excited to be a part of author Ally Condie's blog tour for Crossed, the sequel to the immensely popular Matched. I quite liked book one in the series (read my review here!) and can't wait to see where the sequel goes.
If you haven't read book one, be sure to check out the awesome series website for more info. Or, if you've read book one and are just excited for book two, you can first check out a sampling of the opening chapters of Crossed.
And, without further ado, here's Ally Condie discussing her road to publication:
Blog Tour #3: Journey to Publication, Part I
I’ve always liked writing stories—in fact, before I could write myself, I used to dictate stories to my babysitter and have her write them down. And I always had notebooks full of the beginnings of stories and novels. But that’s all they were: beginnings. I rarely seemed to finish things, and if I did, the endings felt abrupt and unsatisfying. Still, I loved English, I loved reading, and I loved writing, and I knew I wanted those things to be my focus in any career I chose. I decided to become an English teacher, and I taught high school English in Utah and upstate New York for several years.
But then, in 2003, I stopped teaching after the birth of my first son. And I missed it—I loved being home with my baby, but I missed writing and reading and working with students every day. So, I decided to write a novel. It was just for fun, just to see if I could finish something. My dad encouraged me in this project, and he also encouraged me to query the novel when I was finished.
That first novel was rejected soundly, over and over again. (Back in 2003, much of the querying was done via snail mail, and the online writing community wasn’t as robust as it is today.) I dreaded going to the mailbox because the rejections just kept on coming, from agent after agent.
Finally I decided to send the book to some regional publishers in my home state of Utah. These publishers were smaller and didn’t require an agent. I found the two major publishers in Utah and sent them my manuscript. One of them rejected me soundly. The other, Deseret Book, also rejected me, but with a revise and resubmit. The acquisitions editor, Lisa Mangum*, thought my writing had promise but that the novel didn’t work as it was. She invited me to send it again after I’d reworked it.
I was thrilled. I spent about six months revising the novel and sent it back.
Ally Condie
She rejected it again. And invited me to rewrite it, again, and resubmit it, again.
At this point I sat down and asked myself a very hard question. Is this worth it?
I was pregnant with my second child, and very, very sick. My oldest child was almost three and wonderful and bright and crazy. We were living in a sorority with 40 lovely sophomore girls, and as wonderful as it was, it was BUSY. I did the books for the sorority, kept up the house, was in charge of the staff, looked after the girls, etc. And we lived in a tiny apartment right there with the girls. We didn’t sleep much, between the kids and the girls coming in and out at all hours.
I was tired. I had two full-time jobs already (mom and sorority mom). I was also trying to work on classes and courses to keep up my teaching certification.
But when I thought about giving up on the book, I couldn’t do it. After all the work I’d put into it, not doing another round of revision felt like quitting a race just short of the finish line.
So I spent another six months revising the book and sent it in again.
And this time, Deseret Book accepted it for publication. Yearbook, my first novel, came out in the fall of 2006. It was followed by First Day in 2007, Reunion in 2008, Freshman for President in 2008, and Being Sixteen in 2010. **
It was while I was working on Being Sixteen in the fall of 2008 that I had the idea for another book, the one that would turn out to be Matched.
And that’s when my publishing journey took a turn I didn’t expect…(to be continued over at The Compulsive Reader tomorrow)
*Lisa is still a very dear friend (and, now, a critique partner as well!). I wouldn’t be writing today if it weren’t for her. She saw potential where no one else did, and I am very, very indebted to her.
**The books I published before Matched (with the exception of Freshman for President) have a religious bent to them (I am LDS, and Deseret Book is an LDS publisher). I always like to make that very clear (so people don’t pick up those novels expecting something else/more mainstream).
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Ally Condie is the author of the international bestseller Matched, and its newly-released sequel, Crossed. Matched was chosen as one of YALSA’s 2011 Teens’ Top Ten, named as one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Books of 2010, selected as the #1 Pick on the Winter Kid’s Indie Next List, and received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. In a starred review for the sequel, Crossed, Kirkus called the Matched series an “addictive, layered dystopic trilogy.”
A former English teacher (who still keeps her license current, just in case!), she lives with her husband and three sons outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. She loves reading, writing, running, and listening to her husband play guitar.
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Thanks, Ally! I can't wait to read the rest of the story over at The Compulsive Reader's blog tomorrow.
For the rest of you, I have a giveaway! All the details are on the form; fill it out to enter.
Waiting on Wednesday was started by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. Descriptions and such from goodreads.
Today I'm waiting on:
The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison
Penelope (Lo) Marin has always loved to collect beautiful things. Her dad's consulting job means she's grown up moving from one rundown city to the next, and she's learned to cope by collecting (sometimes even stealing) quirky trinkets and souvenirs in each new place--possessions that allow her to feel at least some semblance of home.
But in the year since her brother Oren's death, Lo's hoarding has blossomed into a full-blown, potentially dangerous obsession. She discovers a beautiful, antique butterfly pendant during a routine scour at a weekend flea market, and recognizes it as having been stolen from the home of a recently murdered girl known only as "Sapphire"--a girl just a few years older than Lo. As usual when Lo begins to obsess over something, she can't get the murder out of her mind.
As she attempts to piece together the mysterious "butterfly clues," with the unlikely help of a street artist named Flynt, Lo quickly finds herself caught up in a seedy, violent underworld much closer to home than she ever imagined--a world, she'll ultimately discover, that could hold the key to her brother's tragic death.
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For some reason--probably the cover-- I've been thinking this was a paranormal novel of some sort. However, finally reading the summary fixed my misconception, and now I say DO WANT. There was a time when I was more than a little obsessed with the TV show Hoarders, so hoarding stories always interest me, but the shady undertones in this book bring my curiosity to a whole new level.
As World War I draws to a close in 1918, German citizens are starving and suffering under a repressive regime. Sixteen-year-old Moritz is torn. His father died in the war and his older brother still risks his life in the trenches, but his mother does not support the patriotic cause and attends subversive socialist meetings. While his mother participates in the revolution to sweep away the monarchy, Moritz falls in love with a Jewish girl who also is a socialist. When Moritz’s brother returns home a bitter, maimed war veteran, ready to blame Germany’s defeat on everything but the old order, Moritz must choose between his allegiance to his dangerously radicalized brother and those who usher in the new democracy.
Review:
Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, but I hardly ever pick up books from the category because I feel like I've read the same ones over and over. However, the unique premise of this book definitely drew my attention, and, luckily, it kept my interest throughout.
It's always interesting to read a novel from the perspective of the losing side, but this book managed to make the end of World War I more exciting than I thought it would. Because the war still isn't quite over, Germany is still in turmoil, which provides an intense setting for Moritz, the narrator. I loved seeing his conflict over which side of the war to support grow as he spends more times with people with different perspectives, whether they are socialists, criminals, or veterans. The constant switch between people he meets therefore provides for a consistently exciting narrative, and his inner turmoil makes even the slower parts attention-grabbing as well.
However, even with the well-developed story and character of Moritz, the thing that prevented me from loving this book were the rest of the characters. They all do provide emotional story lines and compelling views on the war, but it often seemed as if they were there only to be another source of angst for Moritz. Their personalities weren't really explored, making their, especially Potential Girl Rebecca, relationships with Mortiz seemed more contrived than anything else. The book is short as is and the ending abrupt, so I feel like there was definitely time for the characters to be explored more, but alas, they were not.
A few flat characters aside, I found My Brother's Shadow to be a consistently exciting and interesting read.
Book details: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux/Hardcover/$17.99
