Waiting on Wednesday: For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

soooo preetttyyyy

Hello and happy Waiting on Wednesday! Hosted by Breaking the Spine, WoW is a weekly meme dedicated to books we can’t wait to read. For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund fits with my apocalyptic-YA run (with perhaps more romance than Partials by Dan Wells.) And I am intrigued/terrified by an apocalyptic Persuasion retelling.

“Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot’s estate is foundering, forcing her 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 Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret—one that could change their society . . . 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’s 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.” (Good Reads)

What is your Waiting on Wednesday?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Had a Hard Time Finishing

Hello, Top Ten Tuesday land! Today I am going to opt for the "freebie" TTT.  I could follow the prompt of Top Ten Authors I Would Like to See on a Reality Show. But lets be serious, you can probably guess it would be David Leviathan, Maureen Johnson, and John and Hank Green (I am grandfathering Hank in here). But I basically already watch this show via the Vlogbrothers/Crash Course via YouTube. (SEE the video below. Did you know there was a YA lit prom? Now we all do! dftba!)

So instead I am opting for the "freebie" theme and sharing a list of books I had a TON of trouble finishing. I have wanted to do this for a while, because I want to know if any of these are worth getting back to! So share your wisdom.
   

• Jasper Jones by Craig Gilvey and Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler (with beautiful illustrations by Maira Kalman) both won Printz awards. Why can't I get into these books? Is my brain broken?
•  Froi of the Exiles by the awesome Melina Marchetta. I need to pull it together. But it is a slow start, and the book is enormous. I can't hold it with one hand. I find this to be a problem.
• Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller was an instantly classic love story. And the movie stars Meryl Streep! I should love this book!
• Goosie Mama reviewed and liked Hollowland by Amanda Hocking, but I could not get into her book Switched (the first in Trylle Trilogy). I returned it to the library after 50 pages. Trolls? Mehhh....
• AND IN AN EPIC FINALE OF A BOOK THAT DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE FINISHED: Ripple by Mandy Hubbard. I am ashamed of this. It was late, it looked alright--sirens and all--but I   couldn't bring myself to finish it. It is cring-inducing. Do you ever just give up?

OMG....Jersey book edition

GOOSIE MAMA ARE YOU AWARE THIS BOOK EXISTS?!

It is about a high schooler named Angel who lives on the Shore and has no plans yet for her life and gets the hots for her best friend's BF...and the ensuing summer fun.....

Heeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Jersey Angel.

I think a part of my soul just died. Or ran off to GTL. As my man Joe Conrad is known to write, "the horror, the horror......."

Please, book blog world, read this and get back to us here at YAF and WS on what happens when The Jersey Shore and YA combine. Take one for the team!

Review: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

So here is the deal with Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr:

In post-industrial Pennsylvania the forces of Summer and Winter are at war (wait, what are they doing there!? moving on…). Two faery courts have been searching for the Summer Queen for more than nine centuries--one to restore the power of Summer and the other to banish it. Summer Prince Keenan needs to find a queen to vanquish Winter, his  nasty mother. He has picked the wrong girl before and watched them fall to the wrong-girl-curse (See Donia, who is trapped as a ward of winter until Keenan finds true love. Talk about bitter).  Keenan sets his sights on Aislinn, who is able to see the faeries that hide all around unknowing mortals—faeries who are often ugly, violent, and promiscuous. She has spent her life pretending to NOT see faeries and does NOT want to get involved. The story follows Keenan’s attempts to woo Aislinn and a showdown with Winter. It is more complicated than this, but you get the gist.

Wicked Lovely was not my favorite read. So why did I finish this book, you ask? Because of the love interest, the tattooed and pierced Seth. Now you might not first recognize the hunky-ness of this goth-emo guy, but let me tell YOU. This response is crazy if you know me. "“She stood in his kitchen, watching him toy with the ring in his lip." SERIOUSLY!?! But I can't deny it. Seth is certainly swoon worthy. (And he is a good friend. WINNING). I am going to go hunt down more YA with tattooed men.

• Originality: 4. There are a number of interpretations of the Winter versus Summer court out there in YA land, and I find it confusing when the myths are so muddled from book to book (Maybe I should stop with the faeries).  On the positive side I liked the alternating points of view and Donia was an interesting character. She was a literal warning against falling for the wrong fairy prince. We could use more of that, no?
• Absurdity: 75. Everyone knows not to drink Faery wine by now. Let’s be real.
• Level of Paranormal Romance: I give a 4 to the Para part- since Keenan feels a bit boilerplate, but a FULL 9 goes to Seth. He isn’t paranormal, but did I mention he is out of high school? Points for adult characters.
• Level of Harry-Potter-ness:  4. This is straight middle of the road YA fiction. I might get around to finishing the series one day if the book is in at the library. But I will not throw elbows to get it. And I am taking a trial separation from all things Fairy.

Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. 

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. 

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.” (Good Reads)

 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is unlike anything I have read. The world it creates is surreal and  a bit voyeuristic. The present-tense narration juxtaposed by the short descriptive sections that describe how you, the reader, would experience the circus make it stand out, and emphasize how focused Morgenstern is on making the circus tangible. This is a book I would like to read again, so I can linger and enjoy more of the visuals that Morgenstern so masterfully paints.

Originality: 10. This is fantastical and fantastically unique. The possibilities are endless since each tent is a world unto itself. My favorite is the tent that is really a forest made out of paper, wherein the paper is sheets of love poems.

Absurdity. 8. But the circus is supposed to be surreal, so this is a sign, I think, that the book did what Morgenstern set out to do. I suspended belief and dove right in.

Level of Paranormal Romance: Dueling magicians falling in love? And then using the circus tents they build to express their love? SURE THING.

“Do you remember all of your audiences?" Marco asks. "Not all of them," Celia says. "But I remember the people who look at me the way you do.""What way might that be?""As though they cannot decide if they are afraid of me or they want to kiss me."" I am not afraid of you," Marco says.” 

 Level of Harry Potterness: 8. This writing! Wow! It is rich and enchanting (as fitting a book about magic). One thing my mom pointed out (my mom lets me foist books I like on her all the time. Moms are great) is that you don’t really ever connect to the characters. The main show (circus pun!?) is about the tents themselves and the visual spectacle. I was fine with this, but it might not be for everyone. I still give this an 8 because I love Morgenstern's atmospheric writing- see the posts on her blog, Flax-Golden Tales. MY FAVORITE AFTER THE BREAK.

Waiting on Wednesday: Before I Wake by Rachel Vincent

I am fully aware that this is a YA-trope-tastic cover.
And I don't care!

This week's Waiting in Wednesday is devoted to the 6th book in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent. In case you missed it, I had a fling with this series in January--it inspired the Crusin' Through a Series feature here at YAF and WS--(see here for why I'm not sorry to have read an entire slightly ridic series about banshees).  Before I Wake comes out June 26th! 

I died on a Thursday-killed by a monster intent on stealing my soul. The good news? He didn't get it. The bad news? Turns out not even death will get you out of high school...  Covering up her own murder was one thing, but faking life is much harder than Kaylee Cavanaugh expected. After weeks spent "recovering," she's back in school, fighting to stay visible to the human world, struggling to fit in with her friends and planning time alone with her new reaper boyfriend. But to earn her keep in the human world, Kaylee must reclaim stolen souls, and when her first assignment brings her face-to-face with an old foe, she knows the game has changed. Her immortal status won't keep her safe. And this time Kaylee isn't just gambling with her own life....(Good Reads).

Why do I want to read this book? 1. I was impressed that Vincent managed to trick me into actually changing alliances between certain brothers.......(I usually stand on the side of NOT making eyes at your boyfriend's brother).  Which leads me to reason 2: Tod.  I have a crush on this pizza-delivery-boy-grim-reaper. I mean, he casually quotes Dylan Thomas. And he is sarcastic. How great was the high school hallway showdown in book 5!? I GASPED!  Bring on the witty grim-reaper banter!

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Quotes

Hello Internet on this Glorious Top Ten Tuesday! This weekend, while consuming tasty bratwursts, truffle-oil drenched fries and white wine (well, we tried, but then gave into canned beverages, we were in Brooklyn after all) Goosie Mama*, Grad Student and I came up with the following list of Top Ten Favorite Quotes

*Goosie Mama was there, but in all seriousness, perhaps she was just playing Jenga and scampering around....

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

"A pain stabbed my heart, as it did every time I saw a girl I loved who was going the opposite direction in this too-big world."

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too,Till she cry "Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!"

Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness by Edward Abbey

"Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear-the earth remains, slightly modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break....I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun."

How To Say Goodbye In Robot by Natalie Standiford

"The whole summer stretched out before us, long, hot, endless."

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

"I was blind and heart broken and didn't want to do anything and Gus burst into my room and shouted, "I have wonderful news!" And I was like, "I don't really want to hear wonderful news right now," and Gus said, "This is wonderful news you want to hear," and I asked him, "Fine, what is it?" and he said, "You are going to live a good and long life filled with great and terrible moments that you cannot even imagine yet!""

"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book."

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

"It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."

(BEWARE THE FOLLOWING SAD)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (the Whale)

"Ahhh! Woooh! What's happening? Who am I? Why am I here? What's my purpose in life? What do I mean by who am I? Okay okay, calm down calm down get a grip now. Ooh, this is an interesting sensation. What is it? Its a sort of tingling in my... well I suppose I better start finding names for things. Lets call it a... tail! Yeah! Tail! And hey, what's this roaring sound, whooshing past what I'm suddenly gonna call my head? Wind! Is that a good name? It'll do. Yeah, this is really exciting. I'm dizzy with anticipation! Or is it the wind? There's an awful lot of that now isn't it? And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'! That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me? Hello, Ground!  [Cuts to a distant view as the whale hits the ground and spews up a large mushroom cloud of snow]"

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

"My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes a part of you, step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving Bailey because I will never stop loving her. That's just how it is. Grief and love are conjoined, you don't get one without the other."

Thank you, internet, for the Well Read Ryan Gosling tumblr

(Notes from Grad Student: I love funny quotes, but none made the list. Honorable mention to Jellicoe Road, which I wanted to have quotes from, but couldn’t pick from all the awesome. AND GEEZ the whale makes me sad from the Hitchhiker's Guide...)


And to leave you with a Hey Girl Jack Kerouac  quote edition...

Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Margo Roth Spiegelman is smart, beautiful, a bit reckless, and, as we learn in Paper Towns, mysterious and lost. One night at the end of high school she wakes her band-geek neigbhor Quentin Jacobsen for an epic campaign of revenge.  Q has loved Margo from afar most of his life, and this night is magic (and full of mayhem). But after an night of rule-breaking Margo disappears, and no one seems to know who the real Margo really was or where she could be.  It appears she left clues for Quentin--so he sets out on a wild ride to track her down.


John Green's Paper Towns is a more serious read than the 'crazy high school prank' opening lets on. It asks important questions about how we perceive others and how hard it is to truly know someone when they are still trying to figure themselves out. It is a lovely portrayal of the bittersweet experiences at the end of high school, and one of my favorite depictions of friendship I have read in a long time. Radar and Ben are EXCELLENT wingmen. I would absolutely love to join them on an epic road-trip.

• Originality: 9.  LEGIT. The characters seem so real with their quirks and trials and tribulations of senior band-geek boys. Also, (and probably more importantly) how can you not find a book based around a Walt Whitman poem and quirky historical map features original?
• Absurdity: 5. NOW you may think this is a high rating for a contemporary fiction book. And this 5 does not even reflect the fact (that people sometimes complain about with Green's books) that in real life high schoolers don't run around talking like well-read adults or thinking big thoughts. But I am cool with that part of this book. It is a nice fantasy. This absurdity rating goes to the fact that I didn't buy the fact that Margo Roth Spiegelman was so fascinating. She came off a bit selfish and desperate (it made sense that I felt this, since Green has mentioned Into the Wild an influence--I find that character very selfish). MEANWHILE, I LOVED Q. Now I know selfish characters can serve a purpose. But here, I was not convinced that Q would be so dedicated to the "find Margo" cause. This might be a discussion about the person Q hopes to find in Margo versus who she actaully is and why that matters to the book's larger themes.....but this is not class! moving on!
• Level of Paranormal Romance: 3. Q talks about love  but this is not that kind of a book (Margo is missing. It is hard to cuddle a missing person).
• Level of Harry-Potterness: 9. This book is witty, smart, and lyrical.  It also has literary chops. Symbolism, metaphor, references to great literary works ( it hinges on Whitman's epic poem Leaves of Grass, for goodness sake!) I wish I had read it at a slower speed.  If you want to find out more, AKA the meaning of the "great white cow" see Green's "Questions about Paper Towns."

PS: JOHN GREEN IS A-ONE. I'm a fan of how he can be hilarious AND smart in a single sentence.  If you need further proof of the funniness, watch this. DFTBA!

Summing Up a Genre

I've been cranking through some young adult and some dumb adult fiction recently (yes, there will be a post on this). While some are better than others, the premises all remain pretty similar. Young, female heroine, doesn't realize she's beautiful/talented/special/amazing, etc., she falls for some strikingly dashing man boy and let the relationship/life drama commence.

Hand in hand with this, I think I've figured out the success of One Direction's current hit "What Makes You Beautiful." It's literally the premise for every single young adult fiction book I've read in 2012!

Happy almost Cinco de Mayo!

Friday Library Updates

I arrived at my parent's house on Wednesday and my Mom was all, "Hi hunnie, I saw the new Sookie  Stackhouse at the library, so I picked it up for you." And I said, "Gee, thanks!" Then I came into the kitchen to this:

MOM IS AWESOME. Then I turned the books over and almost died: 

I followed her around the kitchen holding this to my face pretending to be Charlaine, but she would not participate (we could BOTH do it with our Mommy and Me books). Moral of the story, Mom didn't want to have to fight me for Deadlocked. 'Cause shiz would have gotten real fast. I told Crazy Camper, and this is the g-chat conversation that followed:

 Crazy Camper:  can you finish it so i can take it home? [CC comes to NYC this weekend. Huzzah!]

 me:  its a lib book

 Crazy Camper:  SOUL CRUSHING

i could mail it back?

 me:  7 day loan- sorry to be a dream crusher

 Crazy Camper:  library book woes

Meanwhile in Insurgent library news.... Goosie Mama needs to GET HER ACT TOGETHER because I am #130 on the list* to get Insurgent  by Veronica Roth from the NYPL. And that list is not getting any shorter. Goosie Mama is a much bigger fan than me. What is she thinking!?!

(Note: We are hoping the library buys like 80 more copies of this book. They do that sometimes, because libraries are awesome.)