Being Brilliant is Exhausting

You know those days when you have a fantastic idea (for ANYTHING) and instead of writing it down, you say/think, "Oh, I'll remember it later," but then you forget your brilliant idea?

I'm having one of those days.

I had this really good idea for a blog post, and since I haven't updated the last two Saturdays (oops), I figured I owed my readers something awesome. But then I forgot the idea. However, in forgetting,  realized something.

I haven't updated because I feel like whatever ideas I have aren't sufficiently awesome. And that is a really dumb thought. Okay, yeah, an awesome post would be nice every once in a while, but if every single post I publish is sheer brilliance (which it won't be, let me be VERY clear about that) people will really expect that whenever they visit my blog.

I don't have the time to be brilliant in all of my posts. Being brilliant is exhausting. I'm just a teenager. I should be posting about the random things that I like, be it books or movies or shoes or food or ideas. By posting about the things I like, whether or not the post is highbrow or wonderfully worded, I'll find other people who like the same things I do.

According to Maureen Johnson, that connection is the whole purpose of the internet. (I was going to link to the post where she said that, but then I couldn't find it and then I got sucked into the awesome that is her tumblr, and... yeah.)

I'm just going to hit post before I really regret writing this.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

I'd been hearing good things about Shadow and Bone for a while before I got a chance to read it. Initially, I got it confused with Robin Wasserman's Book of Blood and Shadow, for reasons that aren't inherently clear. I thought it might be a little like BoBaS and Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone: set in Prauge, featuring a student, and so on. Well, Shadow and Bone is not at all like either of these, which isn't a bad thing.

It does take a bit to fully get into the swing of the story, but it was well worth the wait. I loved all of the different directions the story took, both geographically and in terms of plot.

I quickly figured out that Shadow and Bone is set in a sort of pseudo-Russia, and I really liked trying to connect the fantastical locations to their real-world counterparts. (I also knew at a glance that the map in the front was drawn by Keith Thompson. Oh, how I love his work!) The title is very apt, though I didn't fully realize that until the very end.

The cover is different from most other books out right now, and I really like it. I love the font, and the colors have a symbolic meaning to the story. I love how the palace seems menacing, like beady red eyes are staring at you. The interior font for the chapter titles and the opening sentences is the Artemis Fowl font, which was seriously weird, but it didn't excessively distract me. Basically, this book is really pretty.

For some reason, it seriously bugged me that the Darkling didn't have his own name, just a title, but I need to ponder more thoroughly to figure out why that is. I loved that Alina was a total nobody, and I seriously, seriously loved that she was inclined to be merciful. (I often find that my issue with heroines is that if they're even remotely brave/powerful, they kill easily. Not so with Alina.)

Leigh Bardugo's writing style was very easy to read, and she glossed over the boring parts, which I appreciated. (Days upon days of slogging through snow, condensed into a few sentences! Yay!) I really enjoyed the way the prologue and epilogue were written in a slightly different style, and I think because of that, they really helped settle the story more firmly.

Shadow and Bone reminded me of the ambiance of Tony Abbot's Kringle combined with the intrigue of Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief. I can't wait for the next book!

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart. (Summary from Goodreads.)


Leigh's website is leighbardugo.com

I Now Pronounce You Someone Else by Erin McCahan

I have wanted to read this book for quite some time, ever since Cheryl Klein (the editor) talked about it on her blog back in 2010. So when I friend happened to find a copy while clearing out her closet, I jumped at the chance to read it.

I started it a long time back, and only now got the chance to finish it. I think the significant gap between reading the first 85% and reading the end may have dampened my enjoyment of the story somewhat, but nevertheless, I did like it.

It isn't a typical YA book. The protagonist, Bronwen, is an eighteen-year-old senior for most of the story, which is usually a bit old for YA. Additionally, Bronwen is getting married. (Surprisingly, this is more common in YA overall than you might think. It's highly irregular for realistic fiction, though.)

Bronwen has spent her whole life wanting to be Someone Else. She even has an alter ego, Phoebe Lilywhite, because at times she is sure that she must have been switched at birth. Throughout the story, Bronwyn has to figure out what she wants out of her life, and how to be who she wants to be. It's really more of a character-driven book than plot-driven.

I found Erin McCahan's writing very true-to-life, and her character and setting developments were very well done. I can't wait to see what else she writes in the future!


Eighteen-year-old Bronwen Oliver has a secret: She's really Phoebe, the lost daughter of the loving Lilywhite family. That's the only way to explain her image-obsessed mother; a kind but distant stepfather; and a brother with a small personality complex. Bronwen knows she must have been switched at birth, and she can't wait to get away from her "family" for good.
Then she meets Jared Sondervan. He's sweet, funny, everything she wants — and he has the family Bronwen has always wanted too. She falls head over heels in love, and when he proposes marriage, she joyfully accepts. But is Jared truly what she needs? And if he's not, she has to ask: What would Phoebe Lilywhite do? (Summary from Goodreads.)

Erin McCahan's website is http://www.erinmccahan.com.

Guessing Isn't Always Fun

Recently I watched The Brothers Bloom with a bunch of friends. I'd never seen it before, but I really liked it, and would strongly encourage you to see it if you haven't already.

The brothers are con men, and have been since their childhood. Thus, The Brothers Bloom is a story about a con. As with most con stories, it features unreliable narrators, delightful twists, and tiny-but-important details. These aspects are among my favorite parts of a story. It's why I love Heist Society and White Cat; Chasing Vermeer and the 39 Clues.

When I was younger, I read a lot of mysteries. I devoured as many of the Boxcar Children books as I could find, and enjoyed Encyclopedia Brown as well. But somewhere along the line of my transition from middle-grade books to young adult, the supply of straight-up mysteries dwindled, and I had to turn to other genres to get my figure-it-out-before-the-end fix.

The thing is, though,  I don't enjoy figuring out the twist really far in advance. If I figure out the twist (Character X is really the princess!) long before the characters do, I get bored by the characters' obliviousness nine times out of ten. Alternatively, when I only come to the solution when it is revealed to the characters, I feel cheated. I complain that there weren't enough clues. (There's a quote in the most recent Doctor Who companion book-thing about River Song's true identity about twists only being fun if the consumer is able to figure it out beforehand, and even if they don't, the clues are there for them to go back and review.) The sweet spot for me, I've found, is when I figure out the last piece of the puzzle anywhere from a chapter to a page ahead of the characters. This way, I've figured out the clues the author has hidden along the way, but I also don't have an excessive amount of time to wait until the characters figure it out themselves.

I like books that challenge me as a reader. I want to analyze the text for hidden meaning, come up with wild (and plausible) theories, and try to predict the final outcome. By attempting to identify how clues and red herrings are placed (does the careful description of the gun matter for the plot, or to establish this character?) I like to think that I'm learning something valuable about the execution of good writing. That being said, I don't want a to-be-read-pile consisting solely of The DaVinci Code and its brethren. Sometimes I need something less challenging, and more straightforwardly entertaining.

What about you? Do you like guessing the twists ahead of time? Do you also over-analyze descriptions?

Transcendence by C.J. Omololu

 My thoughts in a sentence: I'm so glad I bought my own copy instead of ordering it at the library; I want the sequel soon!

 First of all, it must be said that C. J. Omololu has an awesome name. It's unique but not difficult to pronounce.


Transcendence gave me what I wanted: a capable and intelligent heroine, a realistically flawed but still attractive love interest, and twists that were totally believable that I didn't see coming. (The day before I read this, I was complaining to my sister about the dearth of books with realistic twists that I was unable to guess. The universe heard my plea!)


I will concede that the plot originally develops slowly, but it picks up rapidly.


The title really seems to fit it, as there are at least two references to music being transcendent. Also, I think a theme for this book could be "love transcends time" or "transcending past wrongs is essential to living a good life". Whoever came up with this title really nailed the heart of the story.


Cole (the heroine) is a cello prodigy, and since I've read quite a few books involving cellos recently, I'm feeling this urge to go pick up the cello again... I'm not sure whether that's a positive or a negative.


The way Transcendence is written would be like someone telling Sarah Rees Brennan to write a mashup of If I Stay and Incarnate. (Sidenote: I love all of those.)



Something that really makes Transcendence stand out is its incredible sense of place. I could definitely tell that C. J. had lived in the areas featured in the book. 


The cover is the real reason I bought this book. I first heard about C. J. through the blogs of Daisy Whitney and Nova Ren Suma, both of whom featured a giveaway of Transcendence earlier this month. On Nova's blog, C. J. talked about how the love interest, Griffon, is biracial, and he is also on the cover. This really caught my attention, as there are not nearly enough books about non-white people just living their lives, and often the ones that do exist have a white person on the cover. I am all for diversity on covers, so I decided right them to show Walker/Bloomsbury with my money that they need to keep publishing books like this with covers like this. Also, that boy on the cover is a lot more attractive than a lot of the other male models I've seen on YA books. 


Overall, I am super happy I bought my own copy, since I can tell I'll be rereading it more than a few times. I bought my copy from Barnes and Noble, where it was shelved in the "Paranormal Romance" section, which, okay, it might technically be, but it is unlike anything else I've read in that genre. (And that's a good thing.)

 When a visit to the Tower of London triggers an overwhelmingly real vision of a beheading that occurred centuries before, Cole Ryan fears she is losing her mind. A mysterious boy, Griffon Hall, comes to her aid, but the intensity of their immediate connection seems to open the floodgate of memories even wider.
As their feelings grow, Griffon reveals their common bond as members of the Akhet—an elite group of people who can remember past lives and use their collected wisdom for the good of the world. But not all Akhet are altruistic, and a rogue is after Cole to avenge their shared past. Now in extreme danger, Cole must piece together clues from many lifetimes. What she finds could ruin her chance at a future with Griffon, but risking his love may be the only way to save them both.
Full of danger, romance, and intrigue, Transcendence breathes new life into a perpetually fascinating question: What would you do with another life to live? (Summary from Goodreads.)

C. J.'s website is http://www.cjomololu.com/

I'm Ba-ack (For Real This Time)

*blows off cobwebs*

So, I was remiss in planning (story of my life) how to continue posting once school started last August, and I just kept putting it off, and off, and off... Of course, as you can see, I rarely got around to actually publishing much content.

But this time, I have a plan. (And boy, does having a solid plan help.) My plan is to have two posts a week. One will go up Tuesday or Wednesday (a little flexibility is good) and one on Saturday. I think they'll be a combination of reviews and other content, most of the time, but there may be some weeks when I put up two reviews. Who knows.

I really want to keep this blog going this time, and I'll do my best to see that through. For now, I'm glad to be back.

Review: Ashes by Ilsa Bick

  Despite the fact that I am Team Unicorn ALL THE WAY (if you do not understand this reference, go read Zombies vs Unicorns. You're welcome) I really loved Ashes.

Alex, the main character, has a brain tumor that is slowly killing her. She can't take it anymore, so one weekend she goes up to the Waucamaw Wilderness, where she used to go all the time with her parents before they were killed in a car accident, with the intention of spreading her parents' ashes on the lakeshore. (I'm guessing that the Waucamaw Wilderness is fictional, because all of the Google hits for it are related to this book.)

She doesn't get the chance to do that, however, since an electromagnetic pulse rips through the area and destroys all of her electronics. Alex is forced to care for Ellie, an eight-year-old girl who has some serious attachment issues, and her dog, Mina, a former bomb-sniffer.

This book is similar in tone to Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star, and Alex really reminded me of Tris from Divergent. It was really on the violent side for me, (some of the descriptions I had to skip) but the plot was really engaging.

I thought that the relationship between Alex and Tom proceeded at a realistic pace. I did think that Ellie was incredibly dumb and annoying at times, but I think that was the point. I thought that the explanations for everything were reasonable, and for the first time in a while, I only figured things out AS Alex did, even though the clues were there, if I had looked. I also loved how well the title fit the book -- I thought Alex's parent's ashes would come into play a bit more than they actually did, but the world was in ashes, Alex's parent's were ashes, so on.

 So, in short, I really liked it. Despite the fact that there were zombies. The sequel cannot come soon enough.

Ilsa's website can be found here.

I'm Good At Making Excuses: Why I Haven't Posted Much

The title says it all. Basically, I've overloaded myself with writing projects (I'm choosing to focus just on November right now, we'll get to the other months later) and as a result, none of them are being done adequately.

For the last three Novembers (2008, 2009, and 2010), I've done NaNoWriMo. I only won last year. The other two years, there were various technological issues that slowed my progress, and by the time they were resolved, I felt it was too late to catch up and quit. This year, I was bound and determined to finish again, carefully allotting how much I should write each day so I wouldn't have to write during week three. (Two words: tech week.)

And then, on November first, my English teacher informed us that we would be doing our research papers. During November, due December 5th. Suddenly my NaNoing seemed less viable. And clearly, writing the various pieces of the paper are far more important than writing my NaNo, because my grade kind of depends on it.

So that's why I haven't been posting this month.

For all of August, my excuse is I went back to school and was settling back into my routine. September, I felt like I hadn't read anything I could write a lengthy post about. (Yeah, maybe my goals should change... Hm...) October was break and schoolwork, and November is now.

But I'll be better about posting! I have an interview with Victoria Schwab (plus a giveaway!) going up Tuesday!

Seriously, I will post it. I promise.

Review: Invincible Summer by Hannah Moskowitz

 I first saw Invincible Summer in May on a display of teen summer books at my local bookstore. I generally don't like "summer books" or "beach reads," Sarah Dessen's books being the notable exception.

I still glanced at it, because the cover kind of confused me (she's on her back, by the way, if that helps.) and I know that covers don't always accurately represent the words in a book. I flipped the book over, determined to at least read the summary, and found it far too fluffy and romancey, so I put the book down. This was clearly not my kind of book.

Then, in mid-July (July 21st, to be exact), Lauren DeStefano urged everyone on Twitter to follow Hannah Moskowitz. I clicked over to Hannah's feed  and saw a link to a blog post she wrote about a cover redesign contest for IS. About halfway down the page was a link to another blog post from earlier this year, about the controversy surrounding the cover. I read that post. And I was absolutely horrified with myself.

I  had convinced myself that IS was some vapid summer book, and then I promptly forgot about it. This was obviously not the case. This was a book that had a devoted fan base, a cover controversy, and, what really made me interested, it was about sign language. Hannah said something in that post that really drove me to get a copy of the book. What she said was, "When you don't pick up a book because of its cover, you are not punishing the design team.... You are punishing the author."

I went and ordered it from the bookstore soon after. This in itself was a huge leap of faith for me. I only buy books I am very sure I will read a million times and cherish and love. I did not know that Invincible Summer would be one of those books, but I was determined to give Hannah Moskowitz and her book a second chance, since I didn't really give either a first one.

It took absolutely forever to arrive, and when it finally did, I waited to begin it until I could give it my undivided attention. I quickly realized I needed to have a pencil handy while reading it, as it is one of those books that begs to be marked in, like required reading that you grow to love. A lot of the marked passages are just Camus quotes, but a fair bit is writing in the margins in response to a character or underlining lines that hint at a greater truth.

Don't go into Invincible Summer expecting a beach read. It isn't one. The closest comparison I have is Shiver in the summer with sand instead of snow, and sibling-love instead of romantic-love. IS is the kind of novel that finds truth and rips it open even further to find an even deeper truth. It's the kind of book I want to recommend to everyone I know or see, but I know that for most people, it will be "too something," and they will not read it.

IS is a rare kind of book. I hate that because of closed-minded people like past-me who won't read it, it is likely to be lost in the shuffle. And that would be an enormously wasteful tragedy. So ignore the back cover summary and the tagline. This book is not about Melinda. Melinda is a distraction. She isn't the one on the cover. That would be Claudia. Claudia, the 11/12/13/14-year old who gets in trouble for wearing makeup and indecent exposure and kissing a waitress and not reading Camus. Claudia, who is both so so young and so so old. You-as-the-reader want to plead with her to cling to her innocence.

I think that at its core, Invincible Summer is about the loss of innocence and our struggle to accept it. It is also about love and acceptance and being yourself and trying, no matter how hard it may be. It's the kind of book I would love to have the chance to pick apart and analyze in a critical essay.

Don't just take my word for it. Go check it out of the library , buy it, or borrow it from a friend. Then, when you're done, pass it on. A story like this deserves to live on forever. Or at least, as long as summers hold a special place in our hearts.

hannah's blog, formspring, Twitter, and website.

Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

I'm having a very difficult time explaining why I like this book so much, so it might be easier if I just made a bulleted list.


Why I liked Hourglass, in ten points.

• It took me FOREVER to figure out that the cover image was of a girl standing on a wall. After I figured that out, I suddenly liked the cover a lot more, and felt the image was a lot more striking.

• Basically, this whole book is like that. You start reading it, you think it's pretty nice, fairly good, a good read... and then you figure things out and it's like WHAM. It gets about three times as awesome.

• I really loved Emerson's voice. She reminded me a lot of Evie from Paranormalcy, in the best way possible. 

• The time travel explanation MADE SENSE.  It also didn't establish that the future is already set, which I liked.

• Michael! This love interest is a gentleman. A rare thing to be seen in YA now, apparently. He reminded me of movie-Michael from the Princess Diaries, which is, you know, a HUGE compliment.

• I really liked Lily. Her best-friend-ness isn't fake at all, and it seemed like the relationship between her and Emerson was completely true, without being too "We share EVERYTHING with each other!" 

• Some twists I saw way ahead of time, but others bowled me over. One, in particular, nearly made me chuck the book across the room, but I didn't, because I needed to know what happened next.

• Thomas and Dru were awesome characters. Like Reese in Blood Magic, they balance between well-meaning parents and understanding sibling/sibling-in-law, but it's a role that is under-appreciated in the books I've read lately. 

• Hourglass is set in the South, yet it doesn't feel overly Gothic or drawly to me. A few books I've read that are specifically set in the South always feel too overwrought to me, but this is managed perfectly.

• I hesitate to compare Hourglass to The Time Traveler's Wife, but... they are similar. It isn't near as depressingly sad, but the writing is just as vivid, there's the time travel - of course - and the love story is, well, lovely.

Myra McEntire's blog, Facebook, and twitter.