New Blog Design

Surprise! 

I've been tinkering around with a new blog design since early May but could never find something that suited my fancy. I'll be apply for a professional makeover this fall from someone like Lori at Use Your Imagination Designs but have to save up first.

So, what do you think?

Feel free to fill out my survey. If you're not a "survey person", send me a tweet, email, or comment.

Also, if you have ever used a blog designer or know of one, please recommend them to me! I'd love to shop around this summer.

Thanks!

In My Mailbox (18)

In My Mailbox is a weekly Sunday meme by The Story Siren where participants show what books and swag they received this week through a store, library, or publishing house.


No video this week. The internet was down for a solid 7 hours yesterday and I didn't get a chance to record or upload.

Library

Inexcusable (Chris Lynch)
Every Little Thing In the World (Nina de Gramont)
Scrambled Eggs at Midnight (Brad Barkley & Heather Hepler)
Roadside Assistance (Amy Clipston)

For Review

Between the Lines (Tammara Webber)
Flat-Out Love (Jessica Park)
Wrong Path (Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris)

GalleyGrab

Clean (Amy Reed)Dust & Decay (Jonathan Maberry)
Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse (Lucas Klauss)
Fury (Elizabeth Miles)
Gone, Gone, Gone (Hannah Moskowitz)
Nocturne (Christine Johnson)
The Unwanteds (Lisa McMann)
Tunnel Vision (Susan Shaw)
Wildefire (Karsten Knight)

NetGalley

Swimming to Chicago (David Matthew Barnes)

The Wishing Pearl (Nicole O'Dell)

Did you do an In My Mailbox? Post your link in the comments!

Wannabee Book Hipster (8)

Wannabee Book Hipster is a weekly Saturday post by The Zealous Reader. Every Saturday I will feature two novels I loved with under 200 reviews on Goodreads. Hopefully this will give underrated authors more publicity and diversify "to-read" piles.

My Life: the Musical

Maryrose Wood

March 11, 2008

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Goodreads

Summary

To best friends and devoted theater fans Emily and Philip, Aurora is no ordinary Broadway musical. Their love for the hit show (whose reclusive author has never been named) is nothing short of an obsession. Thanks to a secret loan from Emily’s grandma Rose, seeing the Saturday matinee has become a weekly ritual that makes real life seem dull and drab by comparison.

But when the theater chat rooms start buzzing with crazy rumors that Aurora might close, Emily and Philip find themselves grappling with some truly show-stopping questions. What, exactly, is the “one sure thing” in show business? How will they pay back the money they owe Grandma Rose? And why hasn’t Philip asked Emily out on a real date? As they go to hilarious lengths to indulge their passion for Aurora, Emily and Philip must face the fact that all shows close sooner or later. But first they’ll put their friendship to the ultimate test, solve Broadway’s biggest mystery–and spend one unforgettable night at the theater.

How I Spent My Last Night on Earth

Todd Strasser

November 1, 1998

Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Goodreads

Summary

Allegra Hanover is Time Zone High's over-achieving valedictorian, so motorcycle-driving surfer bum Andros Bliss seems like the last person she would date. But then an asteroid is rumored to be hurtling towards Earth, and the normal high school rules start to fade.

Students and teachers are ditching class, and the lines between high school cliques are breaking down. Is the end of the world enough to make Allegra finally go for her secret crush?

If you'd like to post your own Wannabee Book Hipster, leave a link in the comments.

Book Blogger Hop & TGIF (2)

I loved doing Book Blogger Hop and TGIF so much a few weeks ago that I've decided to do them every other week!

Book Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop is a weekly book party for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books, hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books.

“How many books are currently in your TBR pile?"

Too many to count! I have about 20 out from my local library, 4 for review from publishers and authors, 12 on NetGalley, 9 on GalleyGrab, 3 on PDF, plus about 15 on my bookshelf that I just haven't read like Little Women.

I've decided to tackle a bunch of them during my Once Upon a Read-a-thon and see if that helps make a reasonable dent in it? *sigh* So many books, so little time!

TGIF 

A book-question and weekly recap meme hosted by Ginger at GReads.

"What are some of your favourite book quotes?"

 I have a whole Word Document of my favourite lyrics and quotes, but here are some of my absolutely favourites:

If you were drifting with a thousand other people, could you really still say you were lost? 

– Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult 

It’s a lot easier to be lost than found. It’s the reason we’re always searching and rarely discovered-so many locks not enough keys.

- Lock & Key, Sarah Dessen

I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.

- Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson 

Maybe I’m dreaming you. Maybe you’re dreaming me; maybe we only exist in each other’s dreams and every morning when we wake up we forget all about each other.

- The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger 

One never learns how the witch became wicked, or whether that was the right choice for her. Is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil?

- Wicked, Gregory Maguire 

Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?

- Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling 

Weekly Recap

Review: My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr

Waiting on Wednesday (23): My Favorite Band Does Not Exist 

Review: The Poison Eaters and Other Stories

Birthday Discussion: June 15: 18 Years of Literature

Review: Stay by Deb Caletti

Wannabee Book Hipster (5): 

Did you do a TGIF or Book Blogger Hop? Post your link in the comments!

My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr

Title: My Heartbeat

Author: Garret Freymann-Weyr

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Release Date: April 29, 2002

Date Read: June 4 - 7, 2011

Rating: 4/5 stars 

Goodreads

Summary

Ellen loves Link and James. Her older brother and his best friend are the only company she ever wants. She knows they fight, but she makes it a policy never to take sides. She loves her brother, the math genius and track star. She is totally, madly in love with James, his long eyelashes and hidden smiles. “When you grow out of it,” James teases her, “you will break my heart.”


Then someone at school asks if Link and James might be in love with each other. A simple question. But the answer is far from simple, and its repercussions affect their entire lives. 

Review

Wow. Have you ever read a book where no matter how long you think about it, you'll never be able to accurately articulate how the book you made you feel? My Heartbeat is one of those titles. I originally borrowed this from the library because of it's cover. Yup, it was the most atrocious cover on the shelf. I really enjoyed Garret Freymann-Weyr's After the Moment last year and thought that maybe this earlier novel would be nothing in comparison. Boy, was I wrong!

My Heartbeat is a young adult novel about a very young teenager, Ellen, who falls in love with her older brother's best friend, James. Typical Disney plotline, right? Wrong. Ellen realizes that James is very much so in love with her brother but as a young person in the early 2000s, doesn't know what gay is or why society would be prejudiced against it. This is one of the few YA novels I've read with an LGBTQ main character without the novel being about them "coming out" but rather about what it means to be homosexual in general. I loved how Garret Freymann-Weyr chose to embrace bisexuality in a very pansexual "love who you love" way rather than as a promiscuous love addict as some modern media chooses to portray it.

Beyond homosexuality, My Heartbeat also touches on teenage sex, transitions from adolescence to adulthood, the evolution of relationships, parent-teenager relations, and the poginancy of art in a secular society. Garret Freymann-Weyr used such rich metaphors and truthful descriptions that I was swept away in her world of words yet was amazed at how much the dialogue and train of thought mirrored my own. I think older teenagers would appreciate this novel more than younger YA readers, as the novel is probably marketed to, because it's incredibly moving and nostalgic to look back on a time when things were either black or white, when you could see things for the first time. It's rare to find such a pure and honest character as Ellen in most YA literature where characters are meant to mirror the harsh realities some teenagers face and I was completely enamored with her the whole novel.

I absolutely hate the cover. It misrepresents the deep emotional themes of the novel and turns it into a juvenile cartoon. I also think the title, while an important line, doesn't market the novel very well to an older young adult audience. If I was an average teenager looking for a book at the library I would probably have skipped right over My Heartbeat.

Quote: "Of the five of us - James, the other men, and me - who are waiting it is Douglas Peters, whom I have never met or seen, who looks more like a person. He is the only one with an expression. The only one whose mouth I got just right so that his face is full of sorrow instead of merely frozen, the way my fingers still are I try to draw what I see."

Recommended: After the Moment (Garret Freymann-Weyr), Keeping You a Secret (Julie Anne Peters), Geography Club (Brent Hartinger)

June 15: 18 Years of Literature

Today is my birthday!


I was really excited to turn 18 for the exciting opportunities I can have as an adult like...well, lottery tickets I guess. More importantly I wanted to be seen as a mature adult to the rest of society and really start contributing to the world around me. I only saw turning 18 as a step forward.


Now I realize that I'll be leaving not only my adolescent years but my years as the target audience for young adult novels. I will officially be an adult-reading-YA from now on. And I'm proud of it! I have no intention of picking up adult books any time soon though I understand that they'll sneak their way into my bookshelf at some point. I think it's incredibly important for youth turning adults in the next few years to continue supporting YA literature, especially in regards to media attacks like the #yasaves/WJS incident and the continuous banning of "controversial" novels.


I wanted to take this opportunity to thank every single YA author who has touched me during my adolescent years. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your novels, and over the past few years reviewing and recommending them to my friends. You have provided me with countless hours of laughter, enlightenment, tears, and characters I'll never forget. Without you I would not be the person I am today, I would not be someone who dedicated myself to the arts, someone who advocates for literacy, someone who is considering literature as a future career. 

On a lighter note, I wanted to feature a novel published today! It's a short list since June 15 is the least popular date to ever publish a YA novel. Oh well. Check it out!

Abithica
Susan Goldsmith
2011
Twilight Times Books
Goodreads

Waiting on Wednesday (23)

Due to some scheduling conflicts with a ton of posts I need to fit in this month, this week's Waiting on Wednesday is a Waiting on...Tuesday?


Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly Wednesday meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.  Participants highlight an upcoming unpublished novel they're interested in.

Title: My Favourite Band Does Not Exist
Author: Robert T. Jeschonek

Release Date: July 11, 2011
Publisher: Clarion Books

Goodreads

Summary

Sixteen-year-old genius Idea Deity believes that he exists only in the pages of a novel written by a malevolent, omnipotent author . . . and that he will die in chapter 64. Meanwhile, an older teen named Reacher Mirage sings lead vocals for the undercover rock band Youforia . . . a band that exists in Idea’s world only as an Internet hoax that Idea himself perpetuated. Then there’s beautiful and mysterious Eunice Truant, who links their destinies. When Idea and Reacher plunge into the reality of Fireskull’s Revenant, the twisted epic fantasy novel they’ve both been reading, chapter 64 bears down on them like a speeding freight train on an unstoppable collision course. Being trapped in a bad book can be a nightmare. Just ask Idea Deity.