Waiting for "Vera"

Hello Readers,

I’m sorry I’ve made you wait so long!  (I’m sure you’ve all been dutifully checking back every hour since September 6^th, right?)  But have no fear, because I think, once you’ve finished this post, that you’ll agree that it was definitely worth the wait for a sneak peek at A.S. King’s newest novel, “Please Ignore Vera Dietz.”

In “Please Ignore Vera Dietz,” Vera is a 18-year-old girl who’s been dumped by her best friend, Charlie.  Now she’s spitting mad at him (and who can blame her?), but Charlie throws a wrench in her plan to hate him forever when he dies under suspicious circumstances and leaves the whole town convinced that he’s committed a horrendous crime.  Now Vera is confused … can she still hate Charlie, even though he’s dead? And should she reveal what she knows about the night that he died and clear his name?

While most of the novel is told from Vera’s point of view, there are chapters mixed in that are told from the POV of Vera’s dad, who’s doing his best to raise Vera on his own, since her mother left them, and the town pagoda.  Ummm, yeah, I said pagoda. One of these things:

(Now you have to read the book.  You must be curious about a sage, wisdom-wielding pagoda, right?)

There are so many levels to “Please Ignore Vera Dietz,” which is one of the things that I liked most about it.  While I felt most connected to the storyline about Vera and Charlie’s dissolved friendship (I was dumped by my best childhood friend in high school, and I haven’t gotten over it yet), there is a whole other story in “Vera,” when you consider the role that Charlie’s and Vera’s parents play. 

I hesitate to say more about “Vera Dietz,” because I don’t want to give too much away. So, what I’ll leave you with is this: get yourself on the waiting list for “Please Ignore Vera Dietz.” Go to your library and place a paper hold, start begging your parents for an early Christmas present, preorder it from wherever you buy your books, because you don’t want to have to wait any longer than necessary to read this book.  “Please Ignore Vera Dietz” is, easily, one of the best books I’ve read this fall and I know that you’ll agree with me once you’ve read it.  “Vera” is due out on October 12.  You can guess where I’ll be …

Avast! And Read This!

Ahoy Readers! 

How be ye landlubbers today? Swab the decks or walk the plank! 

Okay, that’s the extent of my pirate vocabulary. Apparently I should have paid better attention to that Pippi Longstocking movie I watched while babysitting the other day … 

Either way, wondering why we’re talking about pirates today? It’s because A.S. King, one of our awesome TBF 2010 authors returning for TBF 2011, is upset about pirates. 

But Amy is not upset about “Yo-Ho-Ho-And-A-Bottle-Of-Rum” pirates; she’s upset about Internet pirates. Internet pirates who are stealing her books! She writes about these Internet pirates on her always-entertaining blog. Read this entry first, and then read this one. There is no way that I will be able to say anything about Internet pirates as eloquently and entertainingly as Amy has, but I did want to draw your attention to the issue, readers. 

We all love to read and we all love our favorite authors, so let’s remember that “free” ebook downloads online might sound cool, but they’re not. They mean that we’re robbing our favorite authors of well-deserved royalty payments and that we’re disrespecting our favorite authors. When you download for free, you’re saying, “I want to read your book, but I don’t really care if you’re not getting paid.” And we all want our favorite authors to get paid. Because if they don’t, they may not be able to afford the time or resources needed to write. 

This was kind of a downer post, but it’s important stuff! And I promise that the next post will be way more exciting because … up next? An advance review of the highly-anticipated “Please Ignore Vera Dietz” by A.S. King. Keep checking back!

Win "Radiance" Through Free Book Fridays!

Hey Readers! 

So as I’m sure most of you know, Alyson Noel, author of the wildly popular “Immortals” series, was one of our awesome TBF 2010 authors. I wanted to do a quick post today to let you know that you have the opportunity to win an autographed copy of Alyson’s newest book “Radiance” by going to Free Book Friday Teens. Not familiar with Free Book Friday? Allow me to explain. According to Free Book Friday’s website: 

“Each week, we feature a new young adult author with an exclusive author interview podcast or written Q&A and host a drawing to win free signed copies of his/her book. All you have to do to enter to win each week is sign up using the entry form on the left sidebar. Winners are chosen at random and posted on the site every Friday morning. Hence the name, ‘Free Book Friday!’” 

Ummm hello???? How did I not know about this? It was such an exciting find that I had to pass it on to you, readers! Enjoy! 

Get Your Hands on "Get Well Soon"

Hello Readers! 

I’m sooooo tired! I’ve been packing since 7 a.m. this morning and only just finished (at 11 p.m.)! Let this be a lesson to you, readers. When you pack for college, don’t wait until one day before you leave … 

But, at last, I am done and so … I have a book review for you! 

In “Get Well Soon” by Julie Halpern, 16-year-old Anna is depressed. So depressed, in fact, that her parents commit her to a mental hospital for 21 days. “Get Well Soon” is very character driven, rather than plot driven. It’s greatest strength lies in the character development and the relationships between Anna and the other teens at the hospital. 

“Get Well Soon” is based on Julie Halpern’s own experiences as a teenager. Included at the end of the story is an interview with Julie, in which she discusses the parallels between “Get Well Soon” and her own life. It was the fact that “Get Well Soon” was based on Julie’s own life that initially drew me to the book. I always wonder, when I read YA fiction, whether the author has based any of it on their own adolescence, so I was excited to come across a book largely based on the writer’s life. 

I’d also like to mention that Julie maintains a hilarious blog. Read it here, and be sure to read this post (my favorite so far)! 

I suppose that it’s a little bit to early for a countdown, but I’m going to tell you anyway … 259 days until Teen Book Festival 2011!

Hungry For More "Hunger"

Hey Bookworms! 

Be super, super excited because … I have another sneak peek book review for you today! The wonderful Stephanie Squicciarini, fearless leader of the Teen Book Festival, was able to get me an ARC copy of Jackie Morse Kessler’s YA debut, the novel “Hunger.” 

The jacket flap description of “Hunger” reads: Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she’s been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home—her constant battle with hunger, and her struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life, and to face the horrifying effects of her phenomenal power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power—and the courage to fight her own inner demons? 

I assumed, from the description, that “Hunger” would be some sort of post-apocalyptic novel, in a way akin to “The Hunger Games” series. But I was wrong. I didn’t actually realize that Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are a biblical reference. (Thank you, Wikipedia, for clearing that up for me.) According to Wikipedia: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in the last book of the New Testament of the Bible. The chapter tells of a scroll in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals. Jesus Christ opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons forth the four beasts that ride on white, red, black, and pale-green horses symbolizing conquest (or pestilence), war, famine, and death, respectively. The Christian apocalyptic vision is that the four horsemen are to set a divine apocalypse upon the world as harbingers of the Last Judgment. 

So, as you may have already guessed, “Hunger” was unlike anything I have ever read. And that was a good thing. Lisabeth Lewis is seventeen years old, anorexic, and in denial about her condition. She’s no longer speaking to her best friend, she’s fighting with her boyfriend, and after attempting suicide, she is visited by Death who appoints her Famine. While that may sound like hardcore fantasy, “Hunger” is, in actuality, more of a reflection on the devastating effects of an eating disorder. I would rank “Hunger” as being of the same caliber as Laurie Halse Anderson’s “Wintergirls,” which is the best account of anorexia that I have ever read. 

“Hunger” is due out on October 18. It’s a relatively short book (180 pages), and it moves fast. I devoured it in only a few hours. It’s the sort of book that you’ll wish was longer, but only because it’s one that you’re sad to part with.