I will announce the winners of last week’s guest blog contest soon, so don’t worry, it’s not forgotten. This week, our guest blogger is Jennifer Banash, author of The Elite. Comment to enter for a chance to win a signed copy of Jennifer’s book! And without further ado…

Ahhh . . . Summer. A time for laying out by the pool in your tiniest white bikini–the one that makes you look twice as dark as you really ARE, drinking iced tea and pink lemonade, hanging out with friends, and, above all, stretching out on the back porch and kicking back with a good book. Summer is all of these things, and usually more-except if you’re me right now. For instance, at the present moment, I’m running around my apartment like a madwoman, trying to box up everything I own in anticipation of my move to Los Angeles in just three short weeks. Do I even HAVE a new apartment in LA to move my copious amounts of crap to? No, I do not.

What I DO have, suddenly, is way too much stuff.-stuff I’m not even sure I really BOUGHT, stuff I don’t want t be responsible for, and, most importantly, stuff I don’t want to pack. Packing is so exhausting. Not to mention boring. How can I pack when right now, less than five minutes from my house, there are summer SALES going on?  Fourth of July sales? Markdowns of EPIC proportions?

But, then again, perhaps that’s how I got into this predicament in the first place . . .

With all that’s going on right now, it’s less than surprising that I haven’t had as much time to read as I usually do. On a typical week, I’ll plow through five or six books, easy.  But lately, I’m lucky to read a few pages before conking out in packing-induced exhaustion. And lately, to top everything else off, I’ve been cranky-in one of THOSE moods. You know, the one’s where everything you read leaves you with the resounding sound of “meh” in your head as you throw the book across the room-which is why I was so unbelievably excited to read three books in the past two weeks that really blew me away.

BOY TOY by Barry Lyga:  I’d first read about BOY TOY in the NY Times Book Review, and when I read that it was the story of a 12 year-old boy who has an affair with his seventh grade teacher, I immediately got interested-especially when the review went on to praise Lyga’s writing style as being extremely realistic and moving. And as Booklist put it “Whenever a book for young adults moves the bar sexually, it demands a closer look.” So I put BT on hold at the library and proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait. Apparently it was popular, which made me even more excited to finally read it. And when I did, I wasn’t disappointed. The story is told through the eyes of Josh Mendel, who is now 18, and looking back over the events of the past 5 years, trying to deal with what has happened to him in therapy, and, perhaps more importantly, trying to move on with his life by being a “normal” teenager—one who goes on dates, etc. I won’t say too much about the plot, for fear of spoiling it for potential readers, but what I WILL say is that this is a beautiful, intense, and heartbreaking book that had me shocked and in tears in the last few chapters. I didn’t think I could like a book more, or be more affected by a read than THIRTEEN REASONS WHY, but trust me when I tell you that this book had me by the heart-and throat. I literally could not put the book down until I turned the last page. It’s that good. RUN, do not walk to your nearest bookstore and buy it. You won’t be disappointed.

THE LUXE SERIES: OK, I know what you’re thinking-and I was thinking it too before I read these books.  But it’s summer, and I wanted something light to read-and a little known fact about me is that I LOVE historical fiction. And the covers are really pretty!  (OK, I am a goon). So, to make a long story short, I wasn’t expecting a lot from these books-but I was pleasantly surprised. The first book in the series kind of reads like one-the writing isn’t that great, plus it’s trying way too hard to set up the sequel. So what does THE LUXE have going for it? The plot. It’s like THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS on crack-and in 1899! It was like watching a re-run of Melrose Place when you really should be studying algebra-you know it’s not good for you, but you can’t help yourself-especially if it’s an episode with scary, psychotic Kimberley!

But I digress.

By the end of the first book, I was dying to read RUMORS. Luckily for me, it had just come out, so I trotted right down to the bookstore and got a copy-and proceeded to stay up until 4 AM reading it cover-to-cover. I’ve heard a lot of whining and moaning about the ending of RUMORS, and without giving anything away, all I will say is that Elizabeth and Will totally annoyed me to no end with their goody-goody act, so I wasn’t exactly weeping tears of regret when I got to the last ten pages of the book. I think goody-goody characters are not only irritating, they are profoundly unrealistic. Who is that good all the time? Who?  Certainly not me. For instance, right now I am eating chocolate chip cookies and typing this when I really should be figuring out how I’m going to get my extensive shoe collection to California . . .

Needless to say, I am DYING to know what happens next in the series!  And Godbersen’s writing style really improved in RUMORS-it wasn’t as stiff, so I liked it better overall as a book. I have just pre-ordered ENVY on Amazon, and I suggest you do too.

Now, where did I put that packing tape . . .

xxoooxx

Jennifer

The Class of 2k8 has done a great series of interviews with book reviewers, reversing the usual order of things where we review then, and I’m happy to have been included. You can read my interview here, and comment to win a copy of Lisa Schroeder’s I Heart You, You Haunt Me!

Today I have an extra-special guest blog: One by a fellow book blogger, Book Chic! Oh, and before I forget, a winner of Love, Meg (last week’s guest blog giveaway). And the winner is….(imagine the drumroll here)…girljordyn! Jordyn, please email me your mailing address to claim your prize. This week, we’ll have but not one but two winners, thanks to Book Chic! The prizes will be copies of Dream Girl by Lauren Mechling. I’ve decided to make this contest a little harder than the others. One winner will be chosen at random, and the other winner will be the best comment–the most thoughtful or thought-provoking or funny or interesting or creative…Whatever you like. But relevant, please, something about your life with books or YA books. And now, without further ado, Book Chic:

When I first agreed to do this guest blog, for a very short second, I thought to myself “This will be so much fun! I can write about whatever I want, and it’ll be great! People will bow down before me when they read all about my wisdomosity!”. Then it all came crashing down when I realized that I suck at coming up with my own topics, let alone actually writing about said topic. This is exactly why I decided to do an interview for Harmony Book Reviews rather than the other option, which was a guest blog. See, questions I can handle because all I have to do is answer someone else’s thoughts and I’m good at that. Coming up with my own stuff is a bit harder, although if you’ve noticed, I’ve got a whole paragraph now! Rambling really works, and that’s pretty much all that you will get from me.

But I decided to bite the bullet and do a guest blog when I saw that the lovely, amazing, and smart Jocelyn had TONS of guest blog spots open during the summer months. I felt like I needed to help her out, so I agreed (to myself-she had no idea of this yet) to do it. Now, I’m not a drinker or druggie of any sort, but I’m starting to think that I must have been on something when I voluntarily (key word there- I actually INITIATED this whole situation) said that I would write a guest blog for her site. She seemed very excited about it though, so hopefully I met her expectations of guest blogs.

Now, I’m supposed to talk about something book-related, which I suppose I will, should my rambling take me in that direction. And that direction starts now: Reading has always been a part of my life. My parents read to me when I was little, I read books on my own, and-I always loved to do this and actually still do, haha-I would even read books to my parents. Usually, it would be Dave Barry for my dad and Terry Pratchett for my mom whenever I’d be in the car with them. They fostered this love of books and reading in me, as well as the inclination to be completely surrounded and overflowing with books. Almost every room in our house has books in it. When my sister left for college, my dad moved a bunch of his books into her room, taking up her bookshelves that had been used for other things when she was there. So it’s really no surprise that I ended up running my own site dedicated to reviewing books and talking about them. However, it probably might not have happened if it weren’t for one thing.

As I got older, like into the 8^th grade or so, I lost touch with books. I wasn’t like shunning them by any means, but I read very little. And then when someone recommended a book to me, like my friend Tyler did with Terry Pratchett’s books, I ended up focusing on that one author and reading nothing else. I did this for a couple years with Terry Pratchett and V.C. Andrews. Then, in late summer of 2001, the Princess Diaries movie came out and, being the total gay boy that I am, I absolutely LOVED it. I found out a bit later that it was based on a book and so I started reading the series (starting with the second book because I thought, for some reason, that the first book was written in straight prose rather than diary format and that it would be exactly the same as the movie, which I’d already seen, so why bother reading the same thing?), which I also loved. Meg Cabot became my newest author fad, creating this fun little trifecta thing.

Now, it wasn’t just the Princess Diaries movie that immediately spurred on my love of all things YA. It just led me to Meg, who fostered my love of YA and chicklit. I started reading all of her books shortly after reading all the Princess Diaries books that were out at the time. But it still took several years before I even thought about other authors. When Meg started up her book club in 2004, I started branching out to read other authors that Meg was having as her Book of the Month. Because if Meg liked it, it obviously must be very awesome. I started reading these books to participate in the monthly chats with Meg and the author of the monthly book. Then, it actually happened- I started reading other YA books that Meg had NOT recommended, and finding other books on my own that looked interesting. I devoured them all, loving each story, paragraph, and word.

I was so excited because it was like I’d finally found my niche-the section of the library or bookstore where I could just keep finding amazing books to read. Several years later, I ended up turning that unconditional and immense love for all things YA into a fun and informative book site, which I’ve been running now for just a little over a year. It’s fantastic to be working on the site and chatting with YA authors and other YA readers about not just books, but anything that comes up in conversation. It’s such a great community, and I’m glad that I can be a part of it.

So, here’s the condensed and numerically ordered version of my guest blog (i.e. what you should have learned while reading it):

1) Rambling is good- go with it, embrace it, take it out to dinner, play around in the hot tub with it, etc. It gave me almost two pages for a guest blog-you can’t beat those results (but feel free to slightly maim them)!

2) You never know what event will trigger a series of future events to put you where you are today. It’s actually kind of fun to think about too, and imagine a “If this didn’t happen to me, then I wouldn’t be doing or thinking about <insert fun new thing you wouldn’t be doing or thinking about if it hadn’t been for that one past event>.”

3) YA books rock and are made of awesome, but if you’re here on this site reading this guest blog, then you know this already (I hope).

4) I have no idea how to really end a guest blog, but I can’t really ramble on because this is already long enough as is, so I will try the patented, wonderfully effective plan of just randomly stopping in the middle of the sente-.

Today’s guest blogger is C. Leigh Purtill, author of Love, Meg and All About Vee (which is great, by the way, and will soon be reviewed here). Last week’s winner of a signed copy of The Adoration of Jenna Fox is Megan! Megan, you have one week to contact me with your mailing address. This week’s randomly chosen winner will receive a signed hardcover copy of Love, Meg. All you have to do to put your name in the metaphorical hat (really it’s a random number generator) is comment! And now, without further ado, I give you C. Leigh Purtill!

Recently I was chatting with my very good friend CG Watson (who wrote the fantastic YA novel “Quad”) about authors who tell the same story over and over again, who use certain elements and themes repeatedly.  Perhaps, we thought, these people had been profoundly influenced by certain events in their past and had to work them out through their writing.

Then we wondered about that in our own writing - do we tell the same stories?

In my case, I would have to say yes.  Certainly in the books I have had published and those that I’m currently working on, I use the element of a character being a “fish out of water.”  Now, this is not a new thing.  Writers have been doing that for years!  You take your character and throw her into a completely unknown environment - a new school, a new town, a new country, a new world! - and see what happens. It’s a very common theme.

In “Love, Meg,” Meg Shanley moves all over the place with her sister so she never feels like she has a real home and then, to make matters worse, she moves to the other side of the country to live with people she has never met before.  In “All About Vee,” Veronica May moves from a tiny little town in Arizona to the big city of Los Angeles where, again, she doesn’t know anyone - except for her rotten friend, Reed, but that’s another theme entirely.

After CG and I spoke, I thought about that fish thing.  Am I trying to work that out for myself?  Do I really feel that way?  And again, the answer is yes.  (I don’t know why I bother to ask myself these questions when I already know the answer.) But I began to dig deeper: what is really going on in my stories?

And then I realized the common element was not being a fish out of water, but one of friendship.  I have long been trying to work out for myself the notion of friendship: what does it mean to be someone’s best friend?  What does lifelong friendship really entail?  Could I possibly be someone’s best friend?

When I was a kid, my parents moved me and my brother around an awful lot, from school to school and state to state.  I made friends fairly easily but gave them up pretty easily too.  I knew I wouldn’t be around very long so I never got too attached.  In fact, I used to feel sorry for some of the girls I befriended: I could tell they were expecting me to be around for a long time and I knew they were only going to be disappointed when I left.

When I got older and went off to college, I did the same thing.  I spent a year at one college, took a year off, then transferred to another college.  After I graduated, I worked for 2 years in one job in one town, 2 years in another job in another town, went to grad school for two years, moved to New York…well, you get the picture.  I just kept moving.  So in that sense I was a fish in water - they never stop, never sleep.  I had established a pattern for myself that was really hard to break.

And along with the moves came the question of friendship.  I continued to make friends - and then leave them - but it was getting harder and harder to do.  I wanted to have a best friend, someone I could count on and who could count on me.  I truly wanted to be a person other people considered stable and trustworthy.  The only way I could do that was to stay put for a while.

If you look at my books about Meg and Veronica, you’ll see their common element is much more than being new to a place.  In both, I am searching for the meaning of “best friend.”  Meg calls Jennifer Aniston her best friend; Veronica calls her Vees the same thing.  Meg yearns for the stability of a close friendship while Veronica uses hers as a source of great strength.

My husband and I have lived in LA for almost ten years and although I often get the itch to move and have new adventures, the main reason I stay is for my very dear friends.

Okay, faithful blog readers, I know I haven’t been the best blogger lately. I haven’t been a great reader, either. There’s a long string of excuses, but I think it will suffice to say that life has gotten in the way, which I’m sure you can understand. I’m writing now to tell you that this is not going to change during the summer, because I’m about to leave for six weeks. It’s a great opportunity, but I’m going to be far too busy to have much time to spend on reading and blogging. I’ll have internet access, so I’m still reachable, but blog posts will continue to be only a couple of times a week. I’ll still be reading–that’s easier to squeeze into spare moments–probably more than I have been, but blogging will be difficult. I’m also still looking for guest bloggers. The 25th of June, the 2nd of July, and any time after July 9, are all open dates, and if you have a week that you really want even if it’s already taken, I can squeeze you in. Authors, librarians, anybody involved with books who would be willing to do a guest blog-email me at teenbookreview@gmail.com for details.

Today’s guest blogger is Mary E. Pearson, author of such wonderful books as The Adoration of Jenna Fox and Scribbler of Dreams, but before I get to her great guest blog, I have not one, but two winners to announce! The winner of Maryrose Wood’s book two weeks ago never contacted me, so I’ve selected a new winner–Lucile, please email me with your mailing address. And the winner of a signed copy of Daphne Grab’s debut (last week’s contest) is Grace L.! You each have one week to send me your mailing address at teenbookreview@gmail.com. This week, up for grabs is a signed copy of The Adoration of Jenna Fox, to a random commenter. If you’re a writer, I’d be interested to know where your inspiration comes from.

Mary E. Pearson on Inspiration

You know, I am probably certifiably NUTS to choose this topic, but it’s the question that writers are asked-hands down-more than any other question.  What inspired your story?  And most writers I know, including myself, absolutely dread the “idea” question.  More than dread it.  They secretly melt inside at the thought of retracing the path that led to the story.

And yet, the wicked irony is, that’s exactly what I’m always curious to know too.  When I’ve read a book that I love, I want to know!  How did the author do this?  Let me inside your head!  How did this story come to be?

Stephen King calls stories found things, “like fossils in the ground.”  This analogy works well with the way I write.  I am a bone hunter, and as I am writing, I am searching for the bones of the story.  Yes, that initial spark gives me one of the larger fossil bones, perhaps the spine or thigh bone, but I still don’t know what the whole animal will look like.  I discover it day by day, as new inspirations-from the largest bones to the smallest-are uncovered and help piece together the story.  And when it is done and I step back, I am as surprised as anyone.

I think when most people ask what the inspiration for a story is, they are usually wanting to know what the initial spark was-what got the gears going in the first place.  Even that can be tricky to answer, because a spark does not a whole book make.  And sparks come in all sorts of forms from the subtle, to the dramatic.  With A Room on Lorelei Street, the spark was simply an image of a tired house, a tired girl, and a few opening lines-subtle but intriguing for me-and when this image and voice wouldn’t go away I decided I wanted to learn more about this girl.  With The Adoration of Jenna Fox, the spark was more dramatic-questions I had asked myself when my own daughter had faced a life-threatening illness.

But with both of these stories, I was still faced with a whole book to write beyond the initial spark.  A long, whole book. The spark was not the whole story.  Where to go from here?  There is a Jack London quote that says, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”  And that’s where the rest of the inspirations come in.  Writing a book is a long process.  More often than not, you do not feel inspired.  But you show up for work.  You face the blank page with your club in hand.  And the inspirations, large and small, come between the dry, keyboard-pounding daily effort of trying to find your way.  For instance, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, would not exist without each and every one of these inspirations that followed the initial spark:

1.  Image of girl looking out at water recovering from something (a character!)
2.  Awareness that she has no memory (okay, now I am intrigued)
3.  She is recovering from an accident (hm, what kind?)
4.  Snippets.  Where did those come from?  The character is talking to me and I have no idea where these passages will go, but I write them down anyway. (Blind faith)
5.  Research.  (Oh my.  My head is spinning.  The near future is way ahead of my imagination.)
6.  Frustration.  The power of language.  Without it we are isolated. (Empathy with character)
7. More characters!  Where did they come from?  Now where are they taking me?
8.  Observations: Pressure on children, especially “miracle” children.
9.  More observations: Over scheduling our kids.  What’s up with that?
10.   In the news:  Organ transplants.  What will they be able to transplant next? (midway through:  a face!) 11. What makes us human?  Is it in our flesh?
12.  A Cotswold.   A crumbling Cotswold.  Finally the perfect house. (I can move forward!)
13.  The human soul.  Will science one day map it out too?
14.  Lily loves her.  She actually loves her.  Life is too precious not to have hope.
15.  Suspense.  Distrust.  Oh?  Is this how the whole story will go?
16.  We all have our demons.
17. Conscience.  Why do some people have more of it than others, and some seem to have none at all?
18.  Do any of us really know how far we would go in an impossible situation?  Is it fair for us to judge others who have been there?  But is it our responsibility to draw a line? (Hm, looks like I am back at another version of that initial spark.)

This of course, is a very crude and incomplete tracing of my inspiration-add in about another hundred or so micro-molding inspirations and a healthy does of life experience–but that is the way a story goes.  It evolves.  Stories are organic-at least for me-and as I find the bones, flesh grows on them.  Hair.  Teeth.  They surprise me.  They take me in unexpected directions.  And the chain of inspirations melt into one another and it becomes hard to explain one without explaining the next and they all seem necessary to convey how the story came to be.

I think that’s why inspiration can become such a loaded question for an author.  It is daunting to separate that initial spark from all the inspirations it is now connected to and the flesh that has grown around it all.

Of course, knowing the enormity of this question, won’t keep me from asking it the next time I have finished reading a book that I love. I still want to know, if only a few small bones at a time.  And if the bones have all fused together into an answer like, life, that’s okay too.  I understand.

Justine Larbalestier’s latest novel, How to Ditch Your Fairy, takes place in a world where almost everyone has their own personal fairy. These invisible creatures help/hinder humans in various ways: there are loose change finding fairies, good hair fairies, clothes shopping fairies, all boys like you fairies, and parking fairies. Charlie, a student at New Avalon Sports High, is the not-so-happy owner of a parking fairy. Not only is it useless for someone who can’t even drive, it’s a major annoyance because of all the people wanting her to ride in their cars and get them a good parking spot.

How to Ditch Your Fairy is the story of Charlie’s quest to ditch her fairy, get the guy, keep her demerit total as low as possible, find great clothes with help from her best friend’s clothes shopping fairy, and keep her sanity throughout all of these crazy adventures! It’s a pretty fantastic, really funny book, overall pretty great, although I did have a few unanswered questions at the end. I’m hoping that means there’s a sequel in the works! I sat down and started reading this book as soon as it arrived in the mail, and I didn’t put it down until I was finished; I didn’t even notice the time passing, that’s how caught up I was in the story. It’s fun and interesting and has a main character I absolutely couldn’t get enough of! Charlie is seriously awesome, as is this book, and you should all read it as soon as possible (which is October for most of you).

Sorry that I’m a bit late posting this, but the randomly selected winner of a signed copy of Stealing Heaven is harmonybookreviews! Harmony, please email me with your mailing address.

Today’s guest blogger is the incredibly awesome Maryrose Wood! She is the author of Why I Let My Hair Grow Out, How I Found the Perfect Dress, Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall In Love, and My Life: The Musical.  And today’s winner, of an audiobook of Liz Gallagher’s The Opposite of Invisible, is book~adorer. Please email me with your mailing address to claim your prize! And now, without further ado, today’s fantastic guest blog.

What makes a “perfect dress” perfect?

Who hasn’t dreamed of finding the “perfect” dress? A dress that makes you feel like the most confident, irresistible creature on the face of the earth. A dress that is pretty, but not too frilly or little-girly. Sexy, yet sophisticated. Stunning, yet affordable.

Does such an item exist? I wish I knew! Personally I’ve always found it a struggle to choose clothes for special occasions. Sometimes I get my act together, go shopping in advance and have an outfit ready and waiting for me in the closet.

Then, on the day of the big event, I put it on and it mysteriously looks all wrong. Or I realize I don’t have the right shoes to go with it — or the right bra! This is not a good discovery to make when you have to be someplace in an hour.

One time I bought a chic little black number specifically to wear to a memorial service. When I put it on, I realized it showed WAY too much cleavage for the occasion. Why hadn’t that been evident in the dressing room at Loehmann’s? I’m not sure, but at the last minute I had to scramble to find something else. (Fortunately, the cleavage dress was just the thing for a film premiere a month later!)

One solution would be to always bring someone you trust when you go shopping. Someone with the twenty-twenty vision to tell you, “I’m seeing way too much ta-ta!” before you head to the cashier! One of my favorite scenes in HOW I FOUND THE PERFECT DRESS is the one where Morgan and her former best friend, now somewhat-on-the-outs pal Sarah go dress shopping together. Sarah thinks they’re searching for dresses for the junior prom, while Morgan’s searching for a clue that will help her undo the enchantment that’s threatening to turn her true love Colin into a permanently exhausted wreck. As fate (or the faeries) would have it, her search takes her straight to the mall.

Before Morgan finds the “perfect dress,” she rediscovers what it means to have a real “BFF”-style best friend like Sarah. A friend who roots for you harder than you root for yourself. One who knows all your excuses and isn’t afraid to call you on them. Best of all, she knows how to make you laugh until it hurts, even when you’re dealing with major problems, like figuring out how to take a nasty spell off the guy you love!

When Morgan does find a magically “perfect” dress, it’s everything a girl could wish for. “It’s the nicest dress in the store,” the bewildered clerk tells her, “but it didn’t fit anyone until you walked in.” It’s even on sale!

But looking like a goddess in a knock-out dress doesn’t solve any of Morgan’s problems. In fact, the “perfect” dress she buys isn’t even the dress she ends up wearing to her junior prom. An unforeseen disaster means she has to come up with a new outfit at the last minute (gosh, who does that remind you of?). But she ends up having a pretty “perfect” evening anyway, albeit in a totally unexpected way.

What would your “perfect dress” look like? How would it make you feel? Would it be one that made you look a different size or shape than you think you really are? Older, maybe? More fashion-forward? More elegant — or more edgy?

Whatever quality you imagine a “perfect” dress could reveal about you, don’t forget: it’s already in your power to bring all those wonderful, complex and contradictory aspects of yourself forward so the world can see them and celebrate the many facets of who you really are. That’s true no matter what you’re wearing.

But when you do find a knock-out dress, learn from my mistakes! Make sure you have the right shoes (and bra!) to go with it, okay?

Thanks to Jocelyn for inviting me to guest blog! Don’t forget, one random commenter gets a signed copy of HOW I FOUND THE PERFECT DRESS. So tell me what’s in your closets, people! Tell me your best shopping-with-your-BFF stories! Your worst fashion disaster stories! What was your most perfect outfit ever, and why?

xoxo
m

I’m really, really behind on my blog reading, so I’m sure I’ve missed some great stuff, but I have found some stuff recently that I thought might be of interest to you guys.

First of all, here’s an interesting post about spoilers (specifically about the Twilight series and the lack of ARCs for the third and fourth books).

This is absolutely disgusting: a picture book to explain to kids why mommy needs plastic surgery to be beautiful.

And while Jordyn’s definition of fluff is different from mine if she’s including The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, what she has to say is still something I agree with, and it’s interesting and thought-provoking even if you disagree.

And here’s a review that made me really want to read this book, though I’d not heard of it before. As this is the purpose of a review, kudos to Story Siren on great reviewing skills.

Check out this awesome contest where you can win an autographed copy of Gaby Triana’s latest novel, a cute tote bag, and a Starubucks gift card!

Find your pen name! Link via various other blogs. I couldn’t really pick one because I have lots of favorite authors and lots of favorite characters, but the first one that I came up with was Rachel Abby Stargirl. Which is stupid and if I were to choose a pen name in reality that would not be it.

Justine Larbalestier’s post on YA books is awesome.

And that’s it for the moment.

Twelve Long Months could have had a better title. And a better cover. But the book itself was great! It’s about Molly, who has a huge crush on her lab partner, Mark Dahl. He’s not interested, though, in that way. This is understandably upsetting to Molly, but she’s still thrilled to find out that they’re both moving to the New York City area after graduation, Molly to attend Columbia, and Mark just to move, though he’s staying with relatives and painting houses to make that dream a reality.

Molly is ecstatic when Mark suggests they hang out in NYC, as they will be each other’s only links to home in Minnesota. She is, however, really far from ecstatic when she discovers what has been Mark’s long-hidden secret which he has successfully kept from everyone back home. There’s a big reason that Mark never fell for her, and it’s nothing against her personally. Mark, shockingly, is gay. Which I don’t think is a big spoiler because anyone who reads the flap copy will know. Molly’s more than a little clueless, though, and is devastated when she finds out. It doesn’t change her feelings, though, as much as she’d like them to change, and she still promises to be a friend to Mark. That relationship is more than a little complicated, though, by Molly’s inability to fall out of love with him.

I really enjoyed Brian Malloy’s first young adult novel. Molly is a realistic, relatable protagonist, struggling to adjust to a new city that’s a big change after her life in Minnesota, and life as a college student, all while mending a broken heart and trying to be a friend to the boy she thought she was destined to be with. Molly’s just trying to figure out her life and her independence. I was entertained by the whole cast of characters, though they didn’t have much depth. I wasn’t really bothered by it while reading, though, as caught up as I was by Molly’s story. Still, the secondary characters could definitely have used some work. Brian Malloy’s writing was not noticeable, which meant it flowed nicely, not painful to read or anything, but wasn’t remarkable. This review is making it sound like I thought this book was mediocre, which I guess maybe on a purely objective level it was, but it really drew me in, and I loved it. I loved the subject, I loved Molly, I loved that it was set in New York City. I’ve got to recommend this book, even though I’m not sure why!

I’d not read one of Brian James’s novels before Thief, somehow. I remember seeing them and thinking they looked interesting, but I’ve never read his other books. And after reading this one, I will have to quickly change that!

Thief is about Elizabeth, known mostly as Kid, a foster child living in New York City with a woman called Sandra, who makes her foster children earn their keep–by stealing. Elizabeth has been trained by her older foster sister, Alexi, as a pickpocket, and that’s how she spends her days. She doesn’t mind too much, because what better option is there? And this way, she’s with Alexi, and the girls have come to care a lot for each other. This way, she’s not alone. So even when she doesn’t like the way she has to live, she doesn’t question it, either.

That begins to change, however, when Sandra takes in a third foster child, this time a boy, named Dune. Dune is new to the system, and doesn’t understand the way Elizabeth’s life works. He wants to go back to a normal life, not be a pickpocket. Elizabeth takes him under her wing, training him so that Sandra will be happy and let him stay, and helping him out. She starts to care for him–but Alexi doesn’t like that. Alexi, though in her own way she does love her, is manipulative and controlling of Elizabeth. She tries to make sure that Dune and Elizabeth don’t get too close, because Elizabeth is hers, in her mind. It becomes clear to Elizabeth that she will have to make some tough choices to find her way out of a difficult situation, but can she do it, and will she do it right?

That might not be the best summary, but this is a really fantastic book. Brian James is a brilliant writer. I loved the premise of this book, and the almost-at-the-edge-of-reality writing style, if that makes any sense. It’s not really surreal like, say, Francesca Lia Block, by any means, but it’s not quite as immediate and, well, normal, as a lot of other books. It’s a lot more interesting than that. Thief is an amazing story, gritty and real and honest and, in its own way, beautiful. Thief is a bold, smart, engaging, and fascinating novel that I can’t recommend highly enough.

As promised, this week is extra-special because we have a second guest blogger, Elizabeth Scott! Elizabeth is the author of three fantastic books, Bloom, Perfect You, and Stealing Heaven (there she is on the left with Perfect You). One lucky commenter on today’s post will win a signed copy of Stealing Heaven! This contest closes a week from today. Don’t forget to enter our other current contest, for an audiobook of The Opposite of Invisible, and stay tuned for more contests, including an extra-awesome contest sometime next week. And now, on to our guest blogger:

I’m writing this on May 2nd, and I have to tell you, I’m a little nervous. It’s my first ever “guest blog” and I feel as I should have something profound to say about writing. But you know, I don’t. I still have so much to learn about how to write–not just the mechanics of it, though I’m quite certain I’ll never know enough about grammar, but about the heart and soul of stories themselves.

And that, I think, is the beauty of writing. It’s always surprising you. You start a story, you think you know where it’s going–maybe you’ve even taken notes–and all of a sudden, BOOM! Your characters aren’t telling your story anymore–they’re telling *their* story, and that moment…it’s one of the most amazing feelings. I mean, how often do you get to peak into someone else’s life, to see what their heart truly desires?

It’s also terrifying, because a lot of writing is about learning to let go, to not force what you want and to just wait and see what happens. And it can be hard, and whenever you think you’re done, it almost always turns out that you’ve just gotten started.

That’s what keeps me writing, though. I love the rush of an idea, I love the moment when I sit down and start to type. I love it when the people I’m writing about do what they want, and let me come along for the ride.

This week’s guest blogger is Liz Gallagher! Thanks to Liz for doing this. I also have another special treat for you all this week–I’ll have another guest blog on Friday! So stay tuned for a double feature this week. Anyway, Liz has written a fantastic post which I have for you below, and one lucky random commenter will win an audio book of Liz’s fantastic book The Opposite of Invisible. Please be as awesome as last week’s commenters and weigh in on the very interesting questions Liz raises in her blog post! Last week’s winner of a signed copy of Song of the Sparrow is Megan. Megan, please email me your mailing address at teenbookreview@gmail.com And now, on to Liz’s blog post:

When I think about my work as a young adult author–a genre that I fell in love with as an adult–I keep coming back to the same food for thought. I call it food for thought because it’s not a thesis, an assertion, a lesson, or anything else that I’m sure about; it’s a question. Here it is: What makes a young adult book different from an adult book about a teenager? And are YA books only for teens?

To me, a novel is a novel. I think. There are books being pubbed as YA that I definitely think every human should read – MT Anderson’s Octavian Nothing, for example, or Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief. Those books are on the literary end of the YA spectrum, though, which raises another question. What are the categories of YA? And do some have more crossover appeal than others?

I used to think that we might find some kind of rule in this: lots of books about teens that are published as adult books have a tone of looking back at teenhood (such as Curtis Sittenfeld’s runaway hit of a few summers past, Prep, in which the narrator is a wise old twenty-three, if I remember correctly), while most books about teens that are published as YA have an immediate, in-the-moment tone. That idea sounded like a decent rule of thumb ’til I found lots of rule-breakers; a notable exception is Marc Acito’s How I Paid for College, an adult book told in the now of  eighties teendom.

I’ve done a lot of thinking about this food, but–to stick with the metaphor–I’m still hungry. I’ve nibbled extensively on the idea that where we classify and subsequently sell a book about a teen is largely a marketing decision (and, tied into that, obviously depends on who’s publishing it). The crux: Teens will find books in the adult section, but most adults won’t shop in the YA section. Therefore, a book with crossover appeal will find a larger audience (of both teens and adults) in the adult section.

But something interesting is going on right this moment! A trend! A new item on the menu, if you will. Last week’s Entertainment Weekly (May 16) included an interesting article, “Teen Nation” by Jennifer Armstrong. It’s starts like this: “Anyone who’s a teenager — or one of the many adults whose pop culture tastes lean in that direction — might want to blow off that summer job.” Teen entertainment out there that’s super-popular, and not just among teen audiences.

The article breaks it down into TV (Gossip Girl, THEWB.COM showing old faves, the forthcoming Juno-esque The Secret Life of the American Teenager, the re-envisioned Beverly Hills, 90210), Movies (American Teen, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants sequel, the forthcoming film adaptation of Nick and Norah’s Infinite  Playlist,and –hello?! — Juno) and Music. I’d argue that music is the last to bleed over (Do any adults out there actually listen to Miley Cyrus, Jesse McCartney, or the Jonas Brothers in the absence of young people? The article thinks so . . . I think they’d do better to point out how many of us watch American Idol.) In any case, the article points out that we’re in a new teen-entertainment boom and that it might not dry up any time soon, as past booms have been forced to say bye-bye-bye.

It’s odd to me that an article with mention of Gossip Girl, Nick and Norah (which they call “the Micahel Cera comedy,” with no mention of it’s basis in the Levithan & Cohn book), and Sisterhood doesn’t begin to examine how books play into this trend. Guess we’ll have to do that ourselves!

Here’s the most interesting quote in the article, from Leslie Morgenstien, who helped develop Gossip Girl from “the popular book series” (the only mention of books I remember in the whole article) into the tv show: “Thing have shifted. Children are better informed, more sophisticated. There used to be a trickle-down effect: Properties would start for adults and then trickle down to teens. I think now it’s reversed.”

That’s almost the equivalent of adults shopping in the YA section, isn’t it? Will this phenomenon spill over to the book world? And will it say in the pop culture — “properties”– arena? Or bleed over into less effusive books, too?

Let’s talk! Adults, how do you feel about the questions? Do your adult friends seem more open to teen entertainment than they once were? Or are only those of us who are already YA-minded watching Gossip Girl? Do you know anyone who’s read the books because of the tv show? And teens, what do you think? Will you stop shopping the YA section once you’re “grown up”? Where do you hear about books? Why do you read  YA? Who do you think it’s for?