Anna and the French Kiss

By Stephanie Perkins

Anna has the perfect life in Atlanta—loyal best friend, awesome job at a movie theater (her dream is to be a film critic), and things are finally heating up with her long-time crush. But her father takes it all away when he sends her to a boarding school in Paris. She expects a miserable senior year, but she's quickly embraced by a group of quirky friends, including Etienne St. Clair. A boy who is utterly charming—and absolutely taken. Knowing she and St. Clair can never be more than friends, Anna does her best to squash her growing feelings. But in the most romantic city in the world, her chance for love may not be as far away as she thinks.



Reading this book felt like devouring a piece of rich dark chocolate—it's delicious and irresistible. It will make you fall in love with Paris. And it will make you fall in love with love. Charming characters, beautiful setting, perfect pacing. I adored it.

The Scorpio Races

By Maggie Stiefvater

 

This is a book that will make you forgo both sleep and food so you can devour it—without even realize you're doing it. A book that when you reach the end, you'll flip back through to reread all your favorite parts. A book that sits with you even days after finishing it; that eats at your soul and crawls inside you. Full of lines you repeat in your mind over and over because you like the weight and the feel of them. A book you want everyone to read, right now, but you won't loan out your copy because you aren't ready to let go yet.

 

I realize my little mini reviews rarely tell you much about the actual plot of the story. Don't bother reading the jacket copy, because it's rather blah and won't tell you anything either. This is a story about killer water horses, racing, cliffs and the sea, but really it's about loyalty and all kinds of love. And a thousand other things you'll just have to read the book to feel.

 

Like all the best stories, I wish I could live in its world a little longer.

 

Bitterblue

By Kristin Cashore

This book is lovely, sad and beautiful. Heartbreaking, but hopeful. And full of touches of humor, too. (Check out these bonus letters for extra fun.) Fans of the previous two books, Graceling and Fire, will find many familiar characters, and are sure to enjoy Bitterblue, too.

The story is not fast-paced, but I couldn't put it down. Kristin Cashore's writing has a way of drawing you in and mesmerizing you, not unlike some of her characters. The world she's created is such a rich tapestry, and this book ends in a way that leaves plenty of room to grow, either with these same characters or new ones. I expect there will be more books in this universe, but either way, I'm eager to read whatever she writes next.

Book Recommendations for Hunger Games Fans

Divergent & Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Matched & Crossed by Ally Condie
Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Surviving Antarctica by Andrea White
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

Unraveling

By Elizabeth Norris

 

This book is amazing, and that blurb above is a perfect description. A mix of X-Files and Veronica Mars, but also ... and ... and I'm not going not to tell you--because I'm like that. You'll just have to read the book to discover the awesomeness for yourself. So go out right now. Find it. Oh wait, it doesn't come out till April 24. But you can it pre-order it here.

Bitterblue

Check out this post on The Enchanted Inkpot for a great interview with Kristin Cashore and a chance to win an ARC of Bitterblue.

I loved Graceling and Fire, and can't wait to read this next book.

Incarnate

By Jodi Meadows

Loved this book, though when I first started it, it wasn't what I expected. Since I kept hearing about it in the context of all the dystopian novels coming out this year, I expected another of those. But Incarnate is much more fantasy than futuristic.

A few elements reminded me of Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown, one of my favorites. Fans of Kristin Cashore's Graceling and Fire should also enjoy this book.

This interview on Miss Snark's First Victim gives a bit more info about both Jodi Meadows and her debut novel.

Divergent

By Veronica Roth

I read this book over Thanksgiving break and I couldn't put it down. Loved, loved, loved it, and I wish I didn't have to wait till May to read the sequel.

It's a YA dystopia, and my best description is that it's a mix between The Giver, the first Harry Potter and Hunger Games.

Carrie Ryan's Zombie Trilogy

I really liked the first book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, but I loved, loved, loved the last two, The Dead-Tossed Waves and The Dark and Hollow Places. Just beautiful writing and rich, emotionally satisfying stories.

The trailers for all three books:

 

Blood Magic

By Tessa Gratton

I can't write book reviews. Since I worry about being spoilery, everything comes out sounding so generic and vague.

But I adore this book so much, I have to say something. Which is that the things I love about it are both writer things and reader things, so if you are a writer and a reader, someone who loves magic and mystery and romance in a perfectly crafted package, you should find this book and read it too.

Fall in love with the characters, enjoy the twists. And pay attention to how she effortlessly weaves in description, how there is not a word or scene out of place. And then try to do that in your books, too.

Shiver

By Maggie Stiefvater

I loved everything about this book. The beautiful, lyrical writing. The doomed and impossible romance. The unique twist on werewolves and winter. The characters - sweet and sad Sam, quietly strong Grace, and also the girl with whom Grace forms an unlikely friendship/alliance.

The temperature plays an important part in the story and is almost a character on its own. The cold practically seeps through the pages. This is the perfect time of year to read this book and I found myself dreading the cooler temperatures as much as the characters were.

I loved the voice and writing style so much that Stiefvater's first two novels have now jumped to the top of my book wish-list, and I'll be eagerly awaiting the two planned Shiver sequels.

If anybody is looking for a gift for a Twilight fan, try Shiver. No vampires, but the romance has a similar quality. Jacob fans especially should enjoy this book. But I think it would appeal to anyone who's looking for a beautifully written YA romance.

Wildwood Dancing

By Juliet Marillier

I read this book last week and I absolutely adored it. Beautiful story, lovely writing, wonderful characters. It's a fairy tale retelling (more than one fairy tale actually) with some other fantasy twists thrown in.

I bought this book on a whim, something I hardly ever do since I always have a long list of books I'm planning to read and/or buy, but the hardback was on a discount table at Borders for only $2.99 so I decided to take the chance. (I'm not sure why it was marked down except that there was a small dot of red ink along the bottom edge of the pages, so I guess they considered it damaged.)

Anyway, I'm so happy I found this book and it has reminded me how much I love fairy tales. I tend to do this with books, when I fall in love with one I only want to read others like it. I've just finished Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, which was also wonderful and I'm about to start another of her books.

Some of my favorite fairy tale retellings are Deerskin and Beauty by Robin McKinley, Beastly by Alex Flinn, and Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley. If anybody has more recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

Quick Update

Long time since I posted. Some day I will get better about this.

Progress on my current WIPs:

WIP #1 - Finally finished the revisions (and finally have a first page I am happy with). Planning to start a new query round soon.

WIP #2 - Finished first draft and letting sit for now. Sequel to book above. (And started the 3rd book, but trying to ignore these characters since I have other things I should be working on instead.)

WIP #3 - My primary Sven project. Finally finished first draft (way past the 70 days) and have started the second draft. I'm really happy with the first half of this book, but the second half has a few holes and several plotty things I'm probably going to change. I know basically what I need to do though, so hopefully getting the book into shape won't take too long.


Also, I've read a lot of wonderful books lately. If you haven't read the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, you must. I had put off reading these despite the many recommendations because the basic premise (a world where everyone has plastic surgery to look pretty) didn't sound all that interesting to me, but these books are amazing. I devoured the entire series within days. I love it when I find books like this that I can't put down because they are just that good. So happy-making. I would say more, but I don't want to be spoilery, so you'll just have to read the books for yourself.

Graceling

Love, love, love this book. I discovered Kristin Cashore's blog several months ago and have been hearing tons of good things about Graceling. I finally got a chance to read her book and wasn't disappointed. I hate spoilers, so I won't say much about the story, but it reminded me somewhat of Robin McKinley's Damar books. Strong female protagonist, delicious romance. Highly recommended, even to people who don't normally read epic fantasy.

Progress

Sven progress: 18,684 (total word count: 29,303)

I'm a little behind due to Thanksgiving, but I'm hoping to make up for it this weekend. I would love to have this draft done before Christmas, which is possible, maybe, if I don't let myself get distracted with other things. The trouble is, I have several WIPs that want my attention right now, and sometimes it's hard to force myself to ignore those and just concentrate on this one.

* * * * * * * * * * *
"Well, those are only some of the questions to be answered as this story goes on. All good stories hide behind a tangle of questions, and it isn't easy to find out their dodges. And this story certainly has a mind of its own. But...if you ask the right questions it will whisper all its secrets to you. A story like this is a very talkative thing."
-Cornelia Funke, Inkdeath

I finished reading this book (the 3rd in the trilogy) tonight. If you haven't read the Inkheart series, I highly recommend it.