30 September 2011

ARCs

The Nostalgic Librarian is giving away some ARCs, including a copy of Liar's Moon! I am really looking forward to this book, it would be great if someone from here won it!

http://nostalgiclibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/09/teen-arc-giveaway-handmade-vintagey.html

The Red Glove by Holly Black


Red Glove Bookplate


Curses and cons. Magic and the mob. In Cassel Sharpe's world, they go together. Cassel always thought he was an ordinary guy, until he realized his memories were being manipulated by his brothers. Now he knows the truth—he’s the most powerful curse worker around. A touch of his hand can transform anything—or anyone—into something else.

That was how Lila, the girl he loved, became a white cat. Cassel was tricked into thinking he killed her, when actually he tried to save her. Now that she's human again, he should be overjoyed. Trouble is, Lila's been cursed to love him, a little gift from his emotion worker mom. And if Lila's love is as phony as Cassel's made-up memories, then he can't believe anything she says or does.

When Cassel's oldest brother is murdered, the Feds recruit Cassel to help make sense of the only clue—crime-scene images of a woman in red gloves. But the mob is after Cassel too—they know how valuable he could be to them. Cassel is going to have to stay one step ahead of both sides just to survive. But where can he turn when he can't trust anyone—least of all, himself?

Love is a curse and the con is the only answer in a game too dangerous to lose.

Review of Previous Book in Series: White Cat


Another great sequel from Holly Black! Continuing from the first book, Red Glove has excellent characterization. I love how Cassel really grows into his self-confidence as a caster while figuring out the plots and twists of the people around him. The twist of Lila's love and Cassel's rejection of the fake as a poor substitute for the real is a great and realistic action for all the parties involved, and it injects the cliche'd sub-plot of "girl likes boy but boy rejects girl" with a fresh point of view, especially with all its unexpected developments. I loved watching the struggle of Cassel trying to figure out morality in a criminal family. And the plot resolution is unexpected yet well tied together. I can't wait for the next book in the series!

29 September 2011

Giveaway Winner


The Girl Who Was on Fire: Your Favorite Authors on Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Trilogy Edited by Leah Wilson


Didn't get to post a winner yesterday due to a plague that hit my house plus a wonderful water shutoff due to city work on the main. It's been exciting :P However, even though it's a day late, I'm sure you're excited to see who won!

1. Smiley Girlie
2. Smiley Girlie (+1 follower)
3. Erica Binns
4. Erica Binns (+1 follower)
5. Essence
6. Essence (+1 follower)
7. Emily

And the RNG chooses . . .

2


Amy, please contact me at yasffblog(at)gmail(dot)com by Sunday with your address! Thanks everyone for making this a painless giveaway, I will try to run another one soon!

26 September 2011

Events

I had a blast at Dragon*Con and the Decatur Book Festival, so I want to tell you about a new event where you can meet authors and hear them speak about writing, their books, and what inspires them:

YALLFEST 2011


Y'All Fest is a book event/festival for Young Adult authors in Charleston, SC. I'd really love to go, it's been 10 years since I've been to Charleston and I'd love to see the city again, especially if it also gives me the opportunity to see some amazing authors like Beth Revis, Carrie Ryan, Sarah Rees Brennan, Victoria Schwab, Saundra Mitchell, Diana Peterfreund, Caitlin Kittredge, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I'm sure it will prove to be an amazing time!


The second thing I want to tell you about is the book blogger awards, the Cybils:



Nominations for books are coming soon. I am having such a hard time deciding what to nominate! I've also thrown my hat in the ring for judging the Sci-Fi and Fantasy category. I don't think I'll get it, my blog is so new and I've been neglectful of reviews lately, but maybe it will give me better chances next year :D


Speaking of reviews, I've added a new book list to the left side bar: waiting on review. I've read so many books this year that the reviews are piling up, but I can never motivate to finish editing and posting them. I'm gonna be more diligent about that for the next few weeks, and I may post a few one-paragraph quick reviews to get back on track.

What I've Read of Popular YA

This is a list of the 100 most popular YA books. I dunno who compiled it, if it's worldwide or just US, UK, Australia, or somewhere else entirely, but it seems to be one meme I could get behind. Got this list from Bookswarm who got it from Annette's Book Spot who got it from Rather Barefoot than Bookless. If you like you can trace it back from there, I wish you better luck than I had :P I'm using Gold for books/series I've completed, Pink for series where I've read one but not all, and Italics for books I have on my wishlist/to-read list.

1.Alex Finn – Beastly
2.Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
3.Ally Carter – Gallagher Girls (1, 2, 3, 4)
4.Ally Condie – Matched
5.Alyson Noel – The Immortals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
6.Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills
7.Angie Sage – Septimus Heap (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
8.Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)
9.Anna Godbersen – Luxe (1, 2, 3, 4)
10.Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
11.Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)
12.Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)
13.Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
14.Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
15.Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)
16.Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)
17.Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3, 4)
18.Christopher Paolini – Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)
19.Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)
20.Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)
21.Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (1, 2, 3)
22.Ellen Hopkins – Impulse
23.Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
24.Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply
25.Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3)
26.Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere
27.Gail Carson Levine – Fairest
28.Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)
29.J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
30.James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2)
31.James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
32.Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
33.Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)
34.Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
35.John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
36.John Green – An Abundance of Katherines
37.John Green – Looking for Alaska
38.John Green – Paper Towns
39.Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4)
40.Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)
41.Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)
42.Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)
43.Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)
44.Lemony Snicket – Series of Unfortunate Events (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
45.Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3)
46.Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)
47.Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
48.M.T. Anderson – Feed
49.Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)
50.Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
51.Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)
52.Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
53.Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger
54.Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
55.Mary Ting – Crossroads
56.Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)
57.Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2)
58.Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
59.Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
60.Meg Rosoff – How I live now
61.Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
62.Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)
63.Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road
64.Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
65.Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
66.Michael Grant – Gone (1, 2, 3, 4)
67.Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion
68.Neal Shusterman – Unwind
69.Neil Gaiman – Coraline
70.Neil Gaiman – Stardust
71.Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
72.P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
73.Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)
74.Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
75.Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
76.Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
77.Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
78.Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere carnal over 40 winks
79.S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
80.Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip
81.Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
82.Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
83.Sarah Dessen – The Truth about Forever
84.Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
85.Scott Westerfeld – Leviathan (1, 2)
86.Scott Westerfeld – Uglies (1, 2, 3)
87.Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days
88.Shannon Hale – Princess Academy
89.Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)
90.Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
91.Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)
92.Stephanie Meyer – The Host
93.Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4)
94.Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
95.Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)
96.Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3)
97.Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
98.Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)
99.Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)
100.Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped

06 September 2011

Dystopian YA

From the handout made by me for the Hunger Games panel and the handout and discussion from the Dystopias for Teens panel at DragonCon.

Series are represented by the first book only to keep the list manageable.

Enclave by Ann Aguirre
Feed by M.T. Anderson
Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony
Candor by Pam Bachorz
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Pure by Julianna Baggott
Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess
Eve by Anna Carey
Dark Secrets by Elizabeth Chandler
Matched by Ally Condie
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron by Jasper Fforde
Truancy by Isamu Fhkui
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill
Flux by Beth Goobie
Gone by Michael Grant
Feed by Mira Grant
Dark Parties by Sara Grant
Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines
The Line by Teri Hall
Nomansland by Lesley Hauge
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
Possession by Elana Johnson
Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky
XVI by Julia Karr
In the Company of Whispers by Saillie Lowenstein
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Legend by Marie Lu
The Declaration by Gemma Malley
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Mayberry
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
The Unidentified by Rae Mariz
Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Ashfall by Mike Mullin
Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Witch & Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
Tankborn by Karn Sandler
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Memento Nora by Angie Smibert
Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder
The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher
Battle Royale by Koushun Takami
Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine
Skinned by Robin Wasserman
Variant by Robison Wells
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Empty by Suzanne Weyn
The Children of the Lost by David Whitley
Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson