So, many of you may have noticed that I haven't been posting for about year. It's been a bad year for me. Divorce, financial problems, etc, etc, blah blah blah. But the good news is, I'm back. :)
The good news for you? I will be contacting the winners of the book giveaway from (ahem) quite awhile ago. So be checking your email (or facebook or whatever information you may have included) in the next week to see if you're a winner!
I love you guys! Thanks for being so supportive!
Cherylynne
About Me
- Cherylynne
- Cher-y-lynne {sher-uhl-lin} –noun 1. One who formerly sold and recommended children’s books at a bookstore; a specialist in young adult, middle grade, and picture books. 2. A para-educator at a middle school. 3. A struggling young adult writer. 4. A lover of chocolate and popcorn. Archaic: An Audiology and Speech Language Pathology major at Brigham Young University. Questions? Suggestions? Books you'd like me to review? E-mail me at cherylynne1 (at) gmail (dot) com.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Dreaded First Page
Let's discuss the bane of every writer’s existence: Your first page.
1. Plant your hook: While in a bookstore or library, chances are that the reader is going to give your novel the one-page test. If you don’t grab them in the first page, you’re done. Maybe your manuscript gets incredible on page 37, but if they don’t read page one, they’ll never get there. You MUST have something that makes your reader say, “Why?” or “How?” or, if you can do it very very well, “What?!” (The “What?!” approach is what made me read The Book Thief. The first page was pretty, but made no sense. I had to read more. I don’t recommend this for most authors, but like I said, if you can do it well…)
2. Set the genre of your novel: You can hope that the publishing company gets it right and gives you a title and cover that will clue any reader into what genre you’re in. But I don’t trust anyone when it comes to that kind of information, and since I have little to no control over titles or covers, I want to make sure my readers are not duped on the first page. If it’s a romance, bring in something romantic. If it’s science fiction, make sure we see something scientific-y. If it’s fantasy, we need to see some hint of magic. Think this isn’t important? Think back to all the novels you started but didn’t finish. Why? Usually it’s because the first page made you expect something that was not delivered in the novel itself. Don’t become the book that gets returned to the library before the reader hits page 50.
3. Don’t start with a dream: One of the most commonly broken rules. But let me tell you why. It has to do with Rule #2. Many times, these are designed to fool your reader. You start with an intense nightmare, tons of action, lightning-fast pacing…then the reader is dumped into a quiet book about a lonely girl in the Midwest who likes to pick dandelions. There’s a ditched book waiting to happen. And it’s a problem in two ways: first, the readers that pick it up will never finish it, and therefore never recommend it to friends, because they want what the book promised. Second, the readers that would like a quiet book about a Midwestern flower picking girl will never pick it up, because they’ll see a first page that looks like it dropped out of a James Bond movie. When you fool your reader on the first page, no one wins.
4. Don’t start with a flashback: This has to do with the fact that kids like to read “up.” They almost always prefer a book with a main character who is just a few years older than themselves. So if they open your novel and find it’s about a four-year-old, there’s a good chance they’ll just toss it. Tell us who your character is now, not who they were then. Now, is there ample opportunity to show us their life history later on? Absolutely. But leave it off the first page.
5. Ditch the prologue: I know. We can all name at least twelve books off the top of our heads with prologues. But there are very few prologues that are necessary, and even fewer that are done well. Prologues have many problems. For one, many prologues are just a lazy way to info dump, to tell us in long, dragging soliloquies about the world so that they don’t have to find more creative ways to actually work it into the manuscript. Or it’s a sneaky way to work in a flashback at the beginning, which is against Rule #4. Or it’s a way to fit in what is essentially a short story that happened in your world centuries ago, and has little to nothing to do with your character…but it’s fast paced and exciting, and it will keep your reader reading in order to find where that story ties in. My advice? Save the short story for your website. Don’t fool your reader into thinking that the characters in the prologue are main characters in your story. And don’t hide important information in the prologue, because studies have shown that most teens will just skip it anyway.
6. Introduce characters slowly and clearly, and keep your pronouns straight: You know your characters backwards and forwards, and you know that Riley is a girl who happens to be a tomboy. But your reader doesn’t. Be particularly careful if you have gender-ambiguous names, or characters that are doing activities not necessarily associated with their gender. I’m not saying that readers are sexist, but when we don’t have strong reason to believe otherwise, we will always fall back on stereotypes. And if you throw in more than three characters on the first page, I can almost guarantee that your reader will get lost. First pages are not normally read carefully. I always speed through the first page, because I want to know where the novel is going. And if your reader is not going to be careful, you have to be. Make it very clear who is who, and your reader will soon fall as in love with them as you are.
7. Avoid driving, sleeping, watching TV, or eating: This is a pretty easy one to fix. These are all passive activities. And in case you didn’t know, passive=boring. These activities are pretty boring when you do them in real life, and they’re definitely boring to read about. Now, at some point, your character will probably have a need to do some, if not all, of these things. That’s fine. But keep it off the first page. And when you take them out of the car or off the couch, you’ll be amazed at how interesting your character suddenly becomes.
Above all, have fun! The worst first page you could possibly have is a blank one. As long as you write something, anything, you’re on your way to an incredible story.
Haven't signed up for the WIFYR newsletter yet? Make sure to get on the list! www.wifyr.com
1. Plant your hook: While in a bookstore or library, chances are that the reader is going to give your novel the one-page test. If you don’t grab them in the first page, you’re done. Maybe your manuscript gets incredible on page 37, but if they don’t read page one, they’ll never get there. You MUST have something that makes your reader say, “Why?” or “How?” or, if you can do it very very well, “What?!” (The “What?!” approach is what made me read The Book Thief. The first page was pretty, but made no sense. I had to read more. I don’t recommend this for most authors, but like I said, if you can do it well…)
2. Set the genre of your novel: You can hope that the publishing company gets it right and gives you a title and cover that will clue any reader into what genre you’re in. But I don’t trust anyone when it comes to that kind of information, and since I have little to no control over titles or covers, I want to make sure my readers are not duped on the first page. If it’s a romance, bring in something romantic. If it’s science fiction, make sure we see something scientific-y. If it’s fantasy, we need to see some hint of magic. Think this isn’t important? Think back to all the novels you started but didn’t finish. Why? Usually it’s because the first page made you expect something that was not delivered in the novel itself. Don’t become the book that gets returned to the library before the reader hits page 50.
3. Don’t start with a dream: One of the most commonly broken rules. But let me tell you why. It has to do with Rule #2. Many times, these are designed to fool your reader. You start with an intense nightmare, tons of action, lightning-fast pacing…then the reader is dumped into a quiet book about a lonely girl in the Midwest who likes to pick dandelions. There’s a ditched book waiting to happen. And it’s a problem in two ways: first, the readers that pick it up will never finish it, and therefore never recommend it to friends, because they want what the book promised. Second, the readers that would like a quiet book about a Midwestern flower picking girl will never pick it up, because they’ll see a first page that looks like it dropped out of a James Bond movie. When you fool your reader on the first page, no one wins.
4. Don’t start with a flashback: This has to do with the fact that kids like to read “up.” They almost always prefer a book with a main character who is just a few years older than themselves. So if they open your novel and find it’s about a four-year-old, there’s a good chance they’ll just toss it. Tell us who your character is now, not who they were then. Now, is there ample opportunity to show us their life history later on? Absolutely. But leave it off the first page.
5. Ditch the prologue: I know. We can all name at least twelve books off the top of our heads with prologues. But there are very few prologues that are necessary, and even fewer that are done well. Prologues have many problems. For one, many prologues are just a lazy way to info dump, to tell us in long, dragging soliloquies about the world so that they don’t have to find more creative ways to actually work it into the manuscript. Or it’s a sneaky way to work in a flashback at the beginning, which is against Rule #4. Or it’s a way to fit in what is essentially a short story that happened in your world centuries ago, and has little to nothing to do with your character…but it’s fast paced and exciting, and it will keep your reader reading in order to find where that story ties in. My advice? Save the short story for your website. Don’t fool your reader into thinking that the characters in the prologue are main characters in your story. And don’t hide important information in the prologue, because studies have shown that most teens will just skip it anyway.
6. Introduce characters slowly and clearly, and keep your pronouns straight: You know your characters backwards and forwards, and you know that Riley is a girl who happens to be a tomboy. But your reader doesn’t. Be particularly careful if you have gender-ambiguous names, or characters that are doing activities not necessarily associated with their gender. I’m not saying that readers are sexist, but when we don’t have strong reason to believe otherwise, we will always fall back on stereotypes. And if you throw in more than three characters on the first page, I can almost guarantee that your reader will get lost. First pages are not normally read carefully. I always speed through the first page, because I want to know where the novel is going. And if your reader is not going to be careful, you have to be. Make it very clear who is who, and your reader will soon fall as in love with them as you are.
7. Avoid driving, sleeping, watching TV, or eating: This is a pretty easy one to fix. These are all passive activities. And in case you didn’t know, passive=boring. These activities are pretty boring when you do them in real life, and they’re definitely boring to read about. Now, at some point, your character will probably have a need to do some, if not all, of these things. That’s fine. But keep it off the first page. And when you take them out of the car or off the couch, you’ll be amazed at how interesting your character suddenly becomes.
Above all, have fun! The worst first page you could possibly have is a blank one. As long as you write something, anything, you’re on your way to an incredible story.
Haven't signed up for the WIFYR newsletter yet? Make sure to get on the list! www.wifyr.com
Friday, March 18, 2011
Author Interview: Claudia Mills
Congratulations to all of our winners! I will be contacting you within the next couple of weeks. But for right now, I would like to post an interview I conducted with the brilliant Claudia Mills, who I am honored to assist at this year's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference in Sandy, Utah.
Claudia has a Ph.D in philosophy from Princeton and is a professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is the mother of two boys, and has written over 40 books for children. And all of her books have been written between 5 and 7 in the morning with a mug of Swiss Miss at her side. She is one of the most brilliant and genuine people I have ever had the privilege to meet.
But enough of me. Read the interview so you can fall in love with her yourself.
Could you tell us the story of your first rejection letter?
It came in seventh grade. I had written a love poem to my first sort-of boyfriend, and I gave it to him. Shortly thereafter, he broke up with me, and I happened to see a list he had written of things he wanted in a girlfriend: “Not blond. Not emotional. Does not write poetry.” So I count that as rejection letter number one. After that there were too many to remember, all run together in my memory, but then came the one I remember best. I was in my mid-20s, working in NYC as a secretary/editorial assistant at Four Winds Press/Scholastic. Weary of uninformative standard rejection slips from all the other New York publishers, I decided to try sending one of my manuscripts to my own house, under a pseudonym, so I would have a ringside seat to watch the proceedings. Like all my other submissions, it was rejected. But this time I was the one who had to type the rejection letter.
You have a Ph.D in philosophy from Princeton, which is, to say the very least, no easy feat. How do you feel your educational background has affected your writing?
Well, it really hasn’t affected it in the way most people, including me, would have expected. If I heard that some children’s book writer had a Ph.D. in philosophy, I would expect that person to write high fantasy, epic struggles between the forces of good and evil, each page studded with nuggets of deep philosophical wisdom. I don’t write that kind of book. I write books like 7 x 9 = Trouble!, where a third grade boy is struggling against . . . the times tables. Still, in all my books I care about the small, central truth about the universe that my character discovers by the end of the story. And writing an opus as major as a doctoral dissertation made me able to believe that however daunting the writing task, if you just keep writing one page, and then another, and then another, at some point it really will get done.
Since you work basically two full-time jobs (as a professor at the University of Colorado and the mother of two boys), your writing time must be very limited, yet you manage to produce a steady stream of novels. How do you manage to maximize the writing time you have so that it's as productive as possible?
You cannot allow yourself to spend very much of your precious writing time on delay, denial, and self-doubt. It took me twelve years to write my dissertation, and of that entire span of time, literally two months was taken up with actual writing. The rest was spent telling myself I couldn’t do it, that it was impossible and hopeless, that it would never be finished, that I would go to my grave with the dissertation undone – including weekly visits to a therapist who specialized in working with people who couldn’t finish their dissertations, etc. Now when I write my books, that’s the part of the writing process I try to eliminate. Well, yes, but how? For me, what helps most is what I call “trusting the process,” which also means “trusting my writing group friends.” I just write the chapter, and then let them tell me whether it’s working or not. I heard one grownup-book author give a talk, and he told the audience that he had revised one scene of his book 88 times. The audience gasped with awe. I was unimpressed. “Don’t you have a writing group?” I asked him. “Well, no,” he said. “Well, they would have saved you 80 of those revisions,” I told him. And I was right.
I've heard that you write with a pen and notepad instead of on a computer. What does this do for your writing process?
This is going to sound a bit strange, but it’s almost as if my pen is a magic wand. Truly, I don’t think about my writing when I’m not actually doing it; when I sit down to write each day, I don’t have the unfolding scene planned out in any detail more than, e.g. “Sierra confronts her father” or “Second encounter with Luke.” Everything that happens in the book happens only as I actually write it. And it’s my pen that makes it happen. I don’t think it would happen on the computer. It doesn’t have that same magic power. I also love the coziness of curling up with pad and paper on the couch. Computers don’t seem as cozy.
You started writing when you were very young, and never stopped. What do you feel are some of the best strategies for inspiring children to write?
I think the two things children need to be inspired to write are opportunity and encouragement. I was lucky enough to have parents and teachers who prioritized writing and who praised me for my early successes at it. I was going to leave my answer at that, but then yesterday I saw the best strategy for inspiring children to write that I have ever seen in my whole entire life. While I was meeting with a fellow writer at a local café, in came an entire class of third graders, wearing their idea of beatnik garb (tie-dye shirts, hippie beads), and carrying notebooks. I inquired: it was a third grade class trip from a nearby elementary school – the kids were there to sit in the café, with their hot chocolate and croissants, and write poetry. And for the next hour, that’s what they proceeded to do. What child in that classroom would NOT be inspired to write?
You manage to jump effortlessly from writing for one age group to writing for the next. How do you deal with the difficulties of writing for different age groups?
I have the same process and approach in writing for any age group. I think we’re all the same, really, whatever our age. When I teach freshmen at the university, I tell myself, they’re just big fifth graders. And graduate students are just VERY big fifth graders. And kindergartners are just very little fifth graders, or maybe fifth graders in the making. At any age, we want to connect with characters we care about, and with a story that matters to us because it matters to them. And I think we also want to come to see the world just a little bit differently from how we saw it before we began reading.
What is your very favorite recent read in middle grade novels?
Well, my favorite author in the world, Carol Lynch Williams, has been mainly writing YA lately, so this isn’t a recent book of hers, but I will always love If I Forget, You Remember for its dazzling ability to blend hilarity and heartbreak on the same page, sometimes even in the same sentence. I thought last year’s Newbery, When You Reach Me, was the best Newbery in years . And I’m a huge fan of Jeanne Birdsall’s Penderwicks series.
Claudia has a Ph.D in philosophy from Princeton and is a professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is the mother of two boys, and has written over 40 books for children. And all of her books have been written between 5 and 7 in the morning with a mug of Swiss Miss at her side. She is one of the most brilliant and genuine people I have ever had the privilege to meet.
But enough of me. Read the interview so you can fall in love with her yourself.
Could you tell us the story of your first rejection letter?
It came in seventh grade. I had written a love poem to my first sort-of boyfriend, and I gave it to him. Shortly thereafter, he broke up with me, and I happened to see a list he had written of things he wanted in a girlfriend: “Not blond. Not emotional. Does not write poetry.” So I count that as rejection letter number one. After that there were too many to remember, all run together in my memory, but then came the one I remember best. I was in my mid-20s, working in NYC as a secretary/editorial assistant at Four Winds Press/Scholastic. Weary of uninformative standard rejection slips from all the other New York publishers, I decided to try sending one of my manuscripts to my own house, under a pseudonym, so I would have a ringside seat to watch the proceedings. Like all my other submissions, it was rejected. But this time I was the one who had to type the rejection letter.
You have a Ph.D in philosophy from Princeton, which is, to say the very least, no easy feat. How do you feel your educational background has affected your writing?
Well, it really hasn’t affected it in the way most people, including me, would have expected. If I heard that some children’s book writer had a Ph.D. in philosophy, I would expect that person to write high fantasy, epic struggles between the forces of good and evil, each page studded with nuggets of deep philosophical wisdom. I don’t write that kind of book. I write books like 7 x 9 = Trouble!, where a third grade boy is struggling against . . . the times tables. Still, in all my books I care about the small, central truth about the universe that my character discovers by the end of the story. And writing an opus as major as a doctoral dissertation made me able to believe that however daunting the writing task, if you just keep writing one page, and then another, and then another, at some point it really will get done.
Since you work basically two full-time jobs (as a professor at the University of Colorado and the mother of two boys), your writing time must be very limited, yet you manage to produce a steady stream of novels. How do you manage to maximize the writing time you have so that it's as productive as possible?
You cannot allow yourself to spend very much of your precious writing time on delay, denial, and self-doubt. It took me twelve years to write my dissertation, and of that entire span of time, literally two months was taken up with actual writing. The rest was spent telling myself I couldn’t do it, that it was impossible and hopeless, that it would never be finished, that I would go to my grave with the dissertation undone – including weekly visits to a therapist who specialized in working with people who couldn’t finish their dissertations, etc. Now when I write my books, that’s the part of the writing process I try to eliminate. Well, yes, but how? For me, what helps most is what I call “trusting the process,” which also means “trusting my writing group friends.” I just write the chapter, and then let them tell me whether it’s working or not. I heard one grownup-book author give a talk, and he told the audience that he had revised one scene of his book 88 times. The audience gasped with awe. I was unimpressed. “Don’t you have a writing group?” I asked him. “Well, no,” he said. “Well, they would have saved you 80 of those revisions,” I told him. And I was right.
I've heard that you write with a pen and notepad instead of on a computer. What does this do for your writing process?
This is going to sound a bit strange, but it’s almost as if my pen is a magic wand. Truly, I don’t think about my writing when I’m not actually doing it; when I sit down to write each day, I don’t have the unfolding scene planned out in any detail more than, e.g. “Sierra confronts her father” or “Second encounter with Luke.” Everything that happens in the book happens only as I actually write it. And it’s my pen that makes it happen. I don’t think it would happen on the computer. It doesn’t have that same magic power. I also love the coziness of curling up with pad and paper on the couch. Computers don’t seem as cozy.
You started writing when you were very young, and never stopped. What do you feel are some of the best strategies for inspiring children to write?
I think the two things children need to be inspired to write are opportunity and encouragement. I was lucky enough to have parents and teachers who prioritized writing and who praised me for my early successes at it. I was going to leave my answer at that, but then yesterday I saw the best strategy for inspiring children to write that I have ever seen in my whole entire life. While I was meeting with a fellow writer at a local café, in came an entire class of third graders, wearing their idea of beatnik garb (tie-dye shirts, hippie beads), and carrying notebooks. I inquired: it was a third grade class trip from a nearby elementary school – the kids were there to sit in the café, with their hot chocolate and croissants, and write poetry. And for the next hour, that’s what they proceeded to do. What child in that classroom would NOT be inspired to write?
You manage to jump effortlessly from writing for one age group to writing for the next. How do you deal with the difficulties of writing for different age groups?
I have the same process and approach in writing for any age group. I think we’re all the same, really, whatever our age. When I teach freshmen at the university, I tell myself, they’re just big fifth graders. And graduate students are just VERY big fifth graders. And kindergartners are just very little fifth graders, or maybe fifth graders in the making. At any age, we want to connect with characters we care about, and with a story that matters to us because it matters to them. And I think we also want to come to see the world just a little bit differently from how we saw it before we began reading.
What is your very favorite recent read in middle grade novels?
Well, my favorite author in the world, Carol Lynch Williams, has been mainly writing YA lately, so this isn’t a recent book of hers, but I will always love If I Forget, You Remember for its dazzling ability to blend hilarity and heartbreak on the same page, sometimes even in the same sentence. I thought last year’s Newbery, When You Reach Me, was the best Newbery in years . And I’m a huge fan of Jeanne Birdsall’s Penderwicks series.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
BIGGEST BOOK GIVEAWAY EVER!!!
50 BOOKS!
That's right, I said 50. I am giving away 50 books. 50 amazing young adult books.
I am also giving away SIGNED copies of the New York Times bestselling novels Matched by Ally Condie and Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. Yes, SIGNED. I watched them do it. :)
Here are the ways to enter:
1. One comment will get you one entry. Yay!
2. Promoting my blog (must include http://cherylynne.blogspot.com/ )will get you one extra entry for each venue you promote it on (twitter, facebook, blog, etc.) You must include links! you can only promote it once on each venue, though.
3. Promoting the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference (a.k.a. WIFYR) will get you TWO extra entries for each venue (must include http://www.wifyr.com/ or the link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kgQp9FocO4) Again, you must provide links.
4. If you have signed up for either a morning workshop or the afternoon workshop at WIFYR, you will get an extra FIVE entries!!! Please note, the fee for the conference is non-refundable.
5. If you have signed up for Claudia Mills' morning workshop (my class!) you will get an extra TEN entries. That's right. Because it's my contest, and I say so.
The contest will end at midnight on February 26th. *
EDIT: Due to some extenuating circumstances, I'm now extending the contest for two more weeks! The contest now ends March 12th at midnight. So get those entries in!
Because there are so many ways to get extra entries, however, I do need to put a limit on how many books one person can win. Each person can win up to five books.
And here's the list of books you can win! I feel obligated to say that this list is subject to change, although I doubt it. If anything, it might get longer if I find other books that I have to give away.
Good luck!
Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford
Love Drugged by James Klise
Perfect Shot by Debbie Rigaud
Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
The Girl Next Door by Selene Castrovilla
After The Kiss by Terra Elan McVoy
Sweet, Hereafter by Angela Johnson
Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett
Abe in Arms by Pegi Deitz Shea
Myself and I by Earl Sewell
Addicted to Her by Janet Nicholas Lynch
Sweet 15 by Emily Adler & Alex Echevarria
China Clipper by Jamie Dodson
Flying Feet by James McCann
Rhythm and Blues by Jill Murray
Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
Survivor's Leave by Robert Sutherland
The Man of Mystery Hill by Tracy L. Carbone
Compromised by Heidi Ayarbe
Joe Rat by Mark Barratt
Anxious Hearts by Tucker Shaw
Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci
The Daughters by Joanna Philbin
The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork
Life, After by Sarah Darer Littman
The Secret to Lying by Todd Mitchell
The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride
Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart
Ghost Dog Secrets by Peg Kehret
The 10 p.m. Question by Kate De Goldi
Runaway Storm by D.E. Knobbe
So Over My Head by Jenny B. Jones
Every Little Thing in the World by Nina de Gramont
Beat the Band by Don Calame
Those Girls by Sarah Lawrence
Call Me Yubbie by Joe Wojcik
Bright Blue Miracle by Becca Wilhite
Cum Laude by Cecily von Ziegesar
Stringz by Michael Wenberg
The Fiddler's Gun by A.S. Peterson
The Summer I Got A Life by Mark Fink
The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells
The Heart is Not a Size by Beth Kephart
Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
Wildthorn by Jane Eagland
Change of Heart by Shari Maurer
Something Terrible Happened on Kenmore by Marci Stillerman
That's right, I said 50. I am giving away 50 books. 50 amazing young adult books.
I am also giving away SIGNED copies of the New York Times bestselling novels Matched by Ally Condie and Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. Yes, SIGNED. I watched them do it. :)
Here are the ways to enter:
1. One comment will get you one entry. Yay!
2. Promoting my blog (must include http://cherylynne.blogspot.com/ )will get you one extra entry for each venue you promote it on (twitter, facebook, blog, etc.) You must include links! you can only promote it once on each venue, though.
3. Promoting the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference (a.k.a. WIFYR) will get you TWO extra entries for each venue (must include http://www.wifyr.com/ or the link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kgQp9FocO4) Again, you must provide links.
4. If you have signed up for either a morning workshop or the afternoon workshop at WIFYR, you will get an extra FIVE entries!!! Please note, the fee for the conference is non-refundable.
5. If you have signed up for Claudia Mills' morning workshop (my class!) you will get an extra TEN entries. That's right. Because it's my contest, and I say so.
The contest will end at midnight on February 26th. *
EDIT: Due to some extenuating circumstances, I'm now extending the contest for two more weeks! The contest now ends March 12th at midnight. So get those entries in!
Because there are so many ways to get extra entries, however, I do need to put a limit on how many books one person can win. Each person can win up to five books.
And here's the list of books you can win! I feel obligated to say that this list is subject to change, although I doubt it. If anything, it might get longer if I find other books that I have to give away.
Good luck!
Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford
Love Drugged by James Klise
Perfect Shot by Debbie Rigaud
Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
The Girl Next Door by Selene Castrovilla
After The Kiss by Terra Elan McVoy
Sweet, Hereafter by Angela Johnson
Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett
Abe in Arms by Pegi Deitz Shea
Myself and I by Earl Sewell
Addicted to Her by Janet Nicholas Lynch
Sweet 15 by Emily Adler & Alex Echevarria
China Clipper by Jamie Dodson
Flying Feet by James McCann
Rhythm and Blues by Jill Murray
Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins
Survivor's Leave by Robert Sutherland
The Man of Mystery Hill by Tracy L. Carbone
Compromised by Heidi Ayarbe
Joe Rat by Mark Barratt
Anxious Hearts by Tucker Shaw
Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci
The Daughters by Joanna Philbin
The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork
Life, After by Sarah Darer Littman
The Secret to Lying by Todd Mitchell
The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride
Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart
Ghost Dog Secrets by Peg Kehret
The 10 p.m. Question by Kate De Goldi
Runaway Storm by D.E. Knobbe
So Over My Head by Jenny B. Jones
Every Little Thing in the World by Nina de Gramont
Beat the Band by Don Calame
Those Girls by Sarah Lawrence
Call Me Yubbie by Joe Wojcik
Bright Blue Miracle by Becca Wilhite
Cum Laude by Cecily von Ziegesar
Stringz by Michael Wenberg
The Fiddler's Gun by A.S. Peterson
The Summer I Got A Life by Mark Fink
The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells
The Heart is Not a Size by Beth Kephart
Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
Wildthorn by Jane Eagland
Change of Heart by Shari Maurer
Something Terrible Happened on Kenmore by Marci Stillerman
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Relaunching...again.
Yes, I am once again relaunching my blog. I'd promise that this is the last time, but I can't guarantee it.
But this time, the relaunch is coming with a HUGE giveaway. I mean HUGE. Details to come this weekend.
In the meantime, you can get an extra entry into said giveaway by commenting on this post BEFORE Saturday. Just a comment. I'd love it if the comment said something about how beautiful, intelligent, and just plain amazing I am, but any comment will do.
And since I don't want this post to be a complete waste, here's some information that you may find useful. Remember the incredible conference I was at last year? It's back again. Utah's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference will be held in Sandy from June 13th-17th. It's an all-star cast this year, and spots are filling up fast, so if you want to get in, you'd better hurry. http://wifyr.com/
And if you're more a video person, you might remember this one from last year:
But this time, the relaunch is coming with a HUGE giveaway. I mean HUGE. Details to come this weekend.
In the meantime, you can get an extra entry into said giveaway by commenting on this post BEFORE Saturday. Just a comment. I'd love it if the comment said something about how beautiful, intelligent, and just plain amazing I am, but any comment will do.
And since I don't want this post to be a complete waste, here's some information that you may find useful. Remember the incredible conference I was at last year? It's back again. Utah's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference will be held in Sandy from June 13th-17th. It's an all-star cast this year, and spots are filling up fast, so if you want to get in, you'd better hurry. http://wifyr.com/
And if you're more a video person, you might remember this one from last year:
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Incredible Synchronicities
synchronicities: 1. the quality or fact of being synchronous
2. the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality —used especially in the psychology of C. G. Jung
--Merriam-Webster Online
This list of similarities and coincidences among the 2010 Cybils YA Fiction nominations is humbly submitted to you by the 2010 Cybils YA Fiction Panel. It is no way to be considered completely exhaustive, as we are certain nominated books and coincidentals will have been missed. This list was originated out of amusement as the seven panelists read their way through the 182 titles. If you know of a nominated title that should be included in one of the synchronicities below, please feel free to submit it in the comments! To get the entire list, you’ll have to visit all seven of the panelist’s blogs.
Featuring a Car Named Holden:
A Little Wanting Song
Butterfly
Featuring Twins:
The Twin’s Daughter
Dangerous Neighbors
Will (not ‘featured’, but reappearing)
Jackie’s Library Teen Events
Fiona Apple:
A Little Wanting Song
and ???? (we know there's one more...help, readers!)
Finding a Friend’s Dad’s Impressively Large Porn Collection:
Exit Strategy
Half Brother
Grandparents as Caregivers:
Harmonic Feedback
The Sky is Everywhere
What Mama Left Me
Sellout
When I was Joe
Historical:
The Agency 1: A Spy in the House
The Agency 2: The Body at the Tower
Anxious Hearts
The Brothers Story
Butterfly
Bright Young Things
Cate of the Lost Colony
City of Cannibals
Crossing the Tracks
Dangerous Neighbors
Faithful
Firefly Letters
The Fiddler’s Gun
Folly
Freaks and Revelations
Half Brother
Hellie Jondoe
Joe Rat
Life, After
Prisoners in the Palace
The Red Umbrella
Revolution
Something Terrible Happened on Kenmore
Three Rivers Rising
The Twin’s Daughter
We Hear the Dead
Wicked Girls
Wildthorn
Woods Runner
Homelessness Caused by Mother Relying on Boyfriends for Housing:
Harmonic Feedback
Sorta Like a Rock Star
IEDs:
Things a Brother Know
Sweet, Hereafter
In-n-Out Burger Love:
Harmonic Feedback
Amy and Roger
Isabel Allende:
Split
This Georgeous Game
“It is what it is” as a coping phase:
Myself and I
Stringz
Want to find out how many featured snake bites in Australia? Stockholm Syndrome? Lunchtime oak trees? Go check out the rest of the list! There are some surprises on there, I promise....
Amanda (#1-10)
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Book Review: Lynn Visible by Julia DeVillers
DeVillers, Julia. Lynn Visible. New York: Penguin Young Readers Group, 2010.
There we were. Taylor smiling, in the outfit I’d put together, looking very happy.
And me, also looking very happy. In my navy-and-white plaid shirt. And my hot pink tutu skirt that flared out superwide. Belted with a wide black leather belt. I also wore my navy-and-white knitted knee socks. On my head was a vintage black fedora wwith a large hot pink bow. And on my feet, sneakers that I’d hacked up and filled in the holes with tulle I’d trimmed off my skirt. And a necklace I’d made from old pink-and-red Polly Pocket shoes.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. That’s what she’s wearing the first day of school?
You won’t be the only person thinking that today.
And me, also looking very happy. In my navy-and-white plaid shirt. And my hot pink tutu skirt that flared out superwide. Belted with a wide black leather belt. I also wore my navy-and-white knitted knee socks. On my head was a vintage black fedora wwith a large hot pink bow. And on my feet, sneakers that I’d hacked up and filled in the holes with tulle I’d trimmed off my skirt. And a necklace I’d made from old pink-and-red Polly Pocket shoes.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. That’s what she’s wearing the first day of school?
You won’t be the only person thinking that today.
When it comes to fashion, Lynn is either a genius who is decades ahead of her time, or she's crazy. If you asked the popular girls in school, they'd tell you the latter.
But that doesn't stop Lynn from dreaming about being the new It girl in the new GlITter Girl competition....the prize being featured in the hottest fashion magazine in the world. Will she face the same rejection she's dealt with her whole life? Or will she finally be validated?
Cute, very cute. Great for the tween girls that are really into fashion. Predictable? A little. But still, you can’t help but cheer for the main character and all the shenanigans she gets herself into.
Perfect for girls that are still a little young for Meg Cabot, but too old for Fancy Nancy.
Nameless Book Review #6
Book #13
Set in a historical period that FASCINATES me, I had high hopes for this one. But no. It spends a ridiculous amount of time avoiding conflict and instead focusing on the historical facts. Worth reading if you want to read a textbook, but otherwise…
Book #14
I am so disappointed in this novel. It started with an AWESOME premise. AWESOME. I thought this would be one of my top favorite books this year.
Then, about halfway through, I discovered a subplot. A subplot that the author obviously wanted as the main plot. Except that it was too boring, so she had to demote it. And as soon as she introduced it, the main plot unraveled. The resolution was BORING. After all that build-up, for nothing? And the subplot took over. And guess what? I DON’T CARE.
So, read the first half, and write your own second half.
Book #15
Definitely full of fun and girl power. But it went a little over-the-top. Oh, what the heck. It went WAY over-the-top. Really cute idea, but then it went crazy. Anything that wasn’t over-the-top was a complete cliché. If it were me, I would have knocked down the character’s age by a few years and marketed it to 8-year-olds. But for YA? It’s a failure.
Book #16
I should have loved this novel. I really should have. The main character could have been based on me. And this is a dream I’ve had most of my life.
But I didn’t. Because quite frankly, it was kind of dumb.
Set in a historical period that FASCINATES me, I had high hopes for this one. But no. It spends a ridiculous amount of time avoiding conflict and instead focusing on the historical facts. Worth reading if you want to read a textbook, but otherwise…
Book #14
I am so disappointed in this novel. It started with an AWESOME premise. AWESOME. I thought this would be one of my top favorite books this year.
Then, about halfway through, I discovered a subplot. A subplot that the author obviously wanted as the main plot. Except that it was too boring, so she had to demote it. And as soon as she introduced it, the main plot unraveled. The resolution was BORING. After all that build-up, for nothing? And the subplot took over. And guess what? I DON’T CARE.
So, read the first half, and write your own second half.
Book #15
Definitely full of fun and girl power. But it went a little over-the-top. Oh, what the heck. It went WAY over-the-top. Really cute idea, but then it went crazy. Anything that wasn’t over-the-top was a complete cliché. If it were me, I would have knocked down the character’s age by a few years and marketed it to 8-year-olds. But for YA? It’s a failure.
Book #16
I should have loved this novel. I really should have. The main character could have been based on me. And this is a dream I’ve had most of my life.
But I didn’t. Because quite frankly, it was kind of dumb.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Best Hunger Games Video EVER!
I think my title says it all. I could just watch this video over and over and over again.
If you're wondering where my reviews are, they're coming. I promise. I'm on book #60 of the Cybils and I'm reading about 4 hours a day...I just haven't had time to post the reviews. BUT I WILL!
And stay tuned...publishers are sending me more free books than I know what to do with, so sometime in the new year I will be having a HUGE giveaway. At least 50 or so books. :)
Thursday, November 25, 2010
How Many Have YOU Read?
Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.
*Bold those books you've read in their entirety.
* Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.
*Bold and italicize books you have read more than once
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (Old Testament Only)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistr
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
*Bold those books you've read in their entirety.
* Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.
*Bold and italicize books you have read more than once
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (Old Testament Only)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistr
87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Book Review: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
Donnelly, Jennifer. Revolution. New York: Delacorte Press, 2010
"Take it down," I said, my voice cracking.
Dr. Becker held up his hands. "Okay, Andi, If you would like me to take the picture down, I will."
"Now."
"Damn it, Andi! Who do you think you're talking to?" Dad shouted.
"I can't do it right now," Dr. Becker said. "I need maintenance to do it. But I give you my word that it will come down, all right?"
I nodded stiffly. It was something. Some small win. I couldn't protect my mother from Dr. Feelgood but at least I'd saved her from Thomas Kinkade.
The traffic jam gives a bit. We pick up speed and few minutes later, we're on the outskirts of Paris. The road to the city is lined with shabby stone houses, used-car lots, falafel dens, and hair salons, their signs all shining garishly in the dark.
"It might do you good, you know," my father is saying as we hit the Boulevard Peripherique. "It might take your mind off things."
"What might?"
"A change of scenery. Paris."
"Yeah. Sure. My brother's dead. My mother's insane. Hey, let's have a crepe."
We don't talk for the rest of the ride.
After Andi's brother died, her family essentially fell apart. So when her father swoops back in and sends her mother to a psych ward and drags her off to Paris, she is not happy.
Then she discovers a guitar that’s over two centuries old. And with it, a diary that reveals a side of history that no one has ever heard before.
Brilliant concept. I LOVED the diary parts. As well as the music reports. The character is smart and creative, and it’s difficult not to adore her, even though she can be pretty snarky.
I wasn’t thrilled with the way it ended, but overall, it’s definitely worth your time. And if you love European historical fiction, you can’t miss out on this book.
Book 12--done!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Book Review: Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen
Godbersen, Anna. Bright Young Things. New York: HarperCollins, 2010.
The faces of each guest turned toward the bride, and though some of them tried to smile, their eyes seemed to say, I know what you’ve done.
Lest their looks cut her, Cordelia reminded herself that she was only half one of them. While her mother had been raised in Union, the other half of Cordelia came from some glittering, far-off place, and like Letty, she was too big for the town she’d grown up in. Letty was right, Cordelia now realized with some relief, to have insisted on a veil. Not only to protect her from the guests’ stares and the judgment in their expressions, but also because of John, who was now reaching for her hands. His eyes were shining, but she couldn’t meet them. She didn’t want any memory of the happy, expectant way he was gazing at her.
Lest their looks cut her, Cordelia reminded herself that she was only half one of them. While her mother had been raised in Union, the other half of Cordelia came from some glittering, far-off place, and like Letty, she was too big for the town she’d grown up in. Letty was right, Cordelia now realized with some relief, to have insisted on a veil. Not only to protect her from the guests’ stares and the judgment in their expressions, but also because of John, who was now reaching for her hands. His eyes were shining, but she couldn’t meet them. She didn’t want any memory of the happy, expectant way he was gazing at her.
Cordelia and Letty believe that their destinies lie far beyond the dull small town they've been raised in....they belong in New York City. Letty is going to be an actress, a singer, a star. And Cordelia is determined to find her father.
Beautiful prose. And I love that it's a historical fiction set in the 20's, we don't see much of that. Lots of twists and turns, you're never quite sure what's going to happen next. The characters were just reckless and stupid enough to make me happy...it made them real. Especially since they admitted they were being stupid. Then did it anyway.
If that doesn't ring true as a teenager, I don't know what does.
If you're a huge fan of Chicago, then this is a great book for you. I can't wait to see what happens in the rest of the series.
Yay for Book #12! I'm so excited to be liking books again!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Nameless Book Review #5
Yep...I was right about Book #11.
The first twenty pages were so abominable that there wasn’t much chance of it being redeemed. Don’t get me wrong, it tried. The middle parts were decent. But then the ending got all screwed up again. That whole incest subplot? It did NOT work for me. It came out of the middle of nowhere, and had no reason to be there. Nothing was even remotely resolved. When you write a novel from alternating POVs, there must be a REASON. Especially if you’re just going over the same old ground over and over again. There was no reason for the POVs, and there was no reason for the novel in general.
I've heard good things about Book #12, though...
The first twenty pages were so abominable that there wasn’t much chance of it being redeemed. Don’t get me wrong, it tried. The middle parts were decent. But then the ending got all screwed up again. That whole incest subplot? It did NOT work for me. It came out of the middle of nowhere, and had no reason to be there. Nothing was even remotely resolved. When you write a novel from alternating POVs, there must be a REASON. Especially if you’re just going over the same old ground over and over again. There was no reason for the POVs, and there was no reason for the novel in general.
I've heard good things about Book #12, though...
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Nameless Book Review #4
Book #10
Not impressed….the slang constantly took me out of the story. Also, I didn’t realize the setting until I was halfway through the book. The plot was fairly uninteresting, though it did pick up a little at the end. And why were there three mini-climaxes? I want one big climax! Come on, people, give me a solid story arc!
Not impressed….the slang constantly took me out of the story. Also, I didn’t realize the setting until I was halfway through the book. The plot was fairly uninteresting, though it did pick up a little at the end. And why were there three mini-climaxes? I want one big climax! Come on, people, give me a solid story arc!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Nameless Book Review #3
Okay...so I can't tell you what I didn't like about Book #9, because that would give away what book it was.
I'll just say this...It's been awhile since I've been this excited about a concept, and I was SO disappointed. *sigh*
Books #10 and #11 aren't looking too promising either, but I'll push through!
I'll just say this...It's been awhile since I've been this excited about a concept, and I was SO disappointed. *sigh*
Books #10 and #11 aren't looking too promising either, but I'll push through!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Book Review: The Twin's Daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Baratz-Logsted, Lauren. The Twin’s Daughter. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010.
I could her her step growing closer to the doorway, and I rose from my seat thinking to go to her, to warn her somehow first—although warn her of what exactly, I couldn’t say—but her energetic glide was too quick for me and as she blew into the room, the woman who had been seated across from me rose as well.
I stood between them looking from one to the other: the one who was dressed and coiffed in a way that showed she had every advantage in the world—my beautiful, gorgeous mother—and her mirror image, but dressed and coiffed far differently. I can say with near certainty that I am the only child in the world who can claim she was there the first time her mother met her twin.
My mother fainted dead away.
But there are darker motivations at work…and if Lucy fails to uncover them, she could become the next victim.
Another one that I loved!! It’s sort of like Little Women meets Edgar Allen Poe. Creepy. Twisted. Brilliant.
I kept thinking I had it all figured out. I kept being wrong. It had my favorite feature of a well-written novel…not one wasted word. Everything was there because it was essential to the climax. This is the first novel of this length that I’ve ever seen do that. It was so incredibly impressive to me.
I loved the characters I was supposed to love, I hated the characters I was supposed to hate, I was confused about nearly everyone else…just as the author intended. I fell for every red herring, like I was supposed to. It was amazing, knowing that the author could control me the way she did. Brava, Lauren Baratz-Logsted.
Yay for Book #8!
Book Review: Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian
Vivan, Siobhan. Not That Kind of Girl, New York: Push, 2010.
“Hey! Come on, Natalie. I’m only kidding with you.” His smile lengthened into a sneer. “You could never give me a hard-on. You’re like…dick repellant.”
Anger burned hot through my body, and I gripped the sides of my chair. Mike Domski wanted to hurt me, and the best way he knew was to call me ugly. I hated that, despite the fact that I would rather eat vomit than touch a hair on Mike’s head, it worked. It took all my self-control not to hock the biggest, wettest ball of spit right between Mike’s eyes.
Natalie has the perfect plan for senior year. She’s going to get elected to student body president, still get perfect grades, and get into every college she applies to. She and Autumn will stay just as close as ever. And no boys will get in the way.
Then Spencer comes along…a girl who isn’t even remotely afraid to show off her sexuality. And Natalie finds herself wanting to save her, to show Spencer what people are saying, and convince her that taking your shirt off in the middle of a crowded hallway is the wrong way to get attention. Which should be easy—if Natalie could stop getting distracted by a boy that is wrong for her in every way.
I loved this novel, and I’m not sure why. I know I definitely related to the main character…but I’m pretty sure that to most people, Natalie would be sort of unlikeable. Hmm. I’m not going to think about what that says about me.
Also, I loved the take on feminism. Both sides of the argument are brought up, and I think they’re dealt with well. It’s clear that the author is on one side of the fence, but I think you can read it and not cross over.
The voice was vibrant, the characters are memorable, and the overall plot is done well. I had some trouble putting this one down. As a warning, there is some sexual content. I thought it was tasteful, but I can definitely see some controversy for conservative areas or younger readers.
Back on track with Book #7!
Buy this book now!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Nameless Book Review #2
Book #6
Ugh. That's all I have to say.
I'm just kidding. I always have more to say.
It was predictable, it was BORING, and it was utterly unoriginal. Nothing I hadn't read before. I finished it, just to see if it would redeem itself...it didn't. I was so happy to get to the last page. It reads like a first draft, and I'm wondering if an editor ever got a chance to even glance at it.
Seriously, how do these books get published?
Ugh. That's all I have to say.
I'm just kidding. I always have more to say.
It was predictable, it was BORING, and it was utterly unoriginal. Nothing I hadn't read before. I finished it, just to see if it would redeem itself...it didn't. I was so happy to get to the last page. It reads like a first draft, and I'm wondering if an editor ever got a chance to even glance at it.
Seriously, how do these books get published?
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Nameless Book Reviews #1
I didn't love the last two books that I read for the panel. I'm not going to tell you which books they were...but I am going to say what I didn't like.
Book 4:
Well, first off, I wasn’t thrilled with the character’s voice. I thought it was weak, especially at the beginning. And I know that she’s supposed to be all depressed and detached from everything, but I don’t think that’s an excuse to not have voice. Also, the plot was cliché, and a little didactic at times, to be perfectly frank. When are we going to see a well-done bullying plot?
One of the biggest problems for me, though, was how in-depth it went with tips on suicide. Don’t get me wrong, I hate censorship, but when I find myself deciding which method is best for me, something is wrong. Teens are much more susceptible to that kind of suggestion than I am.
Another thing I didn’t like was that the character wasn’t saved by any realization of her own, but by other characters that decided to like her, and not back off no matter how badly she treated them. Most teens won’t have that, and by not having it, will decide to go through with killing themselves.
I did find myself relating to the main character, though. I liked her. I thought she was sad without being annoying, and I liked that. Love interest was also very likeable. Every girl’s dream.
Basically, potential, potential, potential, and nothing more.
Book 5:
Again, lack of voice bothered me. It’s told from three different points of view. If you’re going to pull that off successfully, the voices need to be RADICALLY different. I could kind of tell, a little bit, but…not enough.
Also, the title promised more than it delivered on. I needed something juicy, something unexpected, something that would make me gasp. None of that happened. It was cute, it was interesting, but it wasn’t exceptional in any way.
It did have an EXCELLENT premise. It was the mystery that pulled me through the entire thing. It was just the execution that bothered me.
Let's hope I do better with Book 6!
Book 4:
Well, first off, I wasn’t thrilled with the character’s voice. I thought it was weak, especially at the beginning. And I know that she’s supposed to be all depressed and detached from everything, but I don’t think that’s an excuse to not have voice. Also, the plot was cliché, and a little didactic at times, to be perfectly frank. When are we going to see a well-done bullying plot?
One of the biggest problems for me, though, was how in-depth it went with tips on suicide. Don’t get me wrong, I hate censorship, but when I find myself deciding which method is best for me, something is wrong. Teens are much more susceptible to that kind of suggestion than I am.
Another thing I didn’t like was that the character wasn’t saved by any realization of her own, but by other characters that decided to like her, and not back off no matter how badly she treated them. Most teens won’t have that, and by not having it, will decide to go through with killing themselves.
I did find myself relating to the main character, though. I liked her. I thought she was sad without being annoying, and I liked that. Love interest was also very likeable. Every girl’s dream.
Basically, potential, potential, potential, and nothing more.
Book 5:
Again, lack of voice bothered me. It’s told from three different points of view. If you’re going to pull that off successfully, the voices need to be RADICALLY different. I could kind of tell, a little bit, but…not enough.
Also, the title promised more than it delivered on. I needed something juicy, something unexpected, something that would make me gasp. None of that happened. It was cute, it was interesting, but it wasn’t exceptional in any way.
It did have an EXCELLENT premise. It was the mystery that pulled me through the entire thing. It was just the execution that bothered me.
Let's hope I do better with Book 6!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Book Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher
Christopher, Lucy. Stolen. New York, Scholastic, 2010.
“I had to take you.”
The bed creaked and my body rose a little as you sat down on the mattress. I dragged myself away. I tried pushing my legs to the floor, but still they wouldn’t go. The whole world seemed to turn around me. I was going to slide off. I pointed my head away and expected to be sick at any moment. It didn’t come. I hugged my legs toward me. My chest was too tight for crying.
“Where am I?”
You paused before answering. I heard you take a breath, then sigh it out. Your clothing rustled as you changed your position. I realized then that I couldn’t hear any other sounds, anywhere, other than yours.
“You’re here,” you said. “You’re safe.”
At first, Gemma thought Ty was cute. It was flattering, really, to have a hot older guy hitting on her.
Then the world started to get fuzzy. And when she woke up, she was so far from home that she might as well have disappeared from the face of the earth.
Brilliant. Utterly brilliant. This is now on my list of all-time favorite books. Every word counts, subplots and descriptions double as foreshadowing and symbolism. The storyline is gripping, pulling you through every single page…and since there aren’t any chapters, it’s easy to lose track of time.
Ever since I finished it (in one sitting) I’ve been thinking about it. Over and over and over again. I can’t get the characters out of my head. I’m DESPERATE to talk to someone about it, debate about the ending, the meaning, the themes…what fantastic discussions you could get out of this.
Basically…YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK.
Wow, how is it possible that each Cybils book I read is better than the last? This streak has to end sometime.
Book 3—Done!
Buy this book now!
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