REPLICATION
Written by: Jill Williamson
eBook: 304 pages
Publisher: Zonderkidz
December 2011
Genre: Young Adult
How I Got the Book: NetGalley

(Synopsis from Zondervan.com)

When Your Life Is Not Your Own

Martyr—otherwise known as Jason 3:3—is one of hundreds of clones kept in a remote facility called Jason Farms. Told that he has been created to save humanity, Martyr has just one wish before he is scheduled to “expire” in less than a month. To see the sky.

Abby Goyer may have just moved to Alaska, but she has a feeling something strange is going on at the farm where her father works. But even this smart, confident girl could never have imagined what lies beneath a simple barn. Or what would happen when a mysterious boy shows up at her door, asking about the stars.

As the reality of the Jason Experiment comes to light, Martyr is caught between two futures—the one for which he was produced and the one Abby believes God created him to have. Time is running out, and Martyr must decide if a life with Abby is worth leaving everything he’s ever known.

Cover: This cover is nice and clean, not a lot going on. It’s eye catching and simple and does a good job giving an idea of what the book is about. That said, if I passed it in the store, I don’t know that I would pick it up to learn more. Not sure why. Who knows? Maybe I would.

The Book: Imagine human cloning had been (nearly) perfected. Now imagine you are one of those clones. You’ve been raised for 17+ years with one goal in mind: to die. You know your job is to live to be 18 and then expire, becoming one of many clones who died for the greater good of helping others survive in the toxic air of the world.

Now imagine you find out your whole life is a lie and the air isn’t toxic at all.

That’s Replication (The Jason Experiment). Sure, there’s a story about a girl and her moral high ground and blah, blah, blah, but really the story is about Martyr and his life being more than he ever imagined.

What I Loved: Jill Williamson did a great job creating the world of Jason Farms. Through Martyr’s first-person narration, we get a view of  how different things are for the clones. Martyr’s thoughts are like that of a small child. He is unaware of the outside world and the day-to-day things we take for granted. An early scene where he sees a vivid orange neck tie (which he calls a napkin because he has never seen a tie before) illustrates this perfectly.

As we follow Martyr, he learns more of the world and his narrative matures rapidly. The author did a great job growing the Martyr character as he experienced more of life.

The adventure was strong and I enjoyed the main plot of the book – it kept me glued to my nook until I was done.

What Needed Work: Abby Goyer. Oh my sigh. Her character drove me bat-shit insane. First there is her holier than though attitude. Now, I get that Zondervan is a Christian-focused publisher, so there will be religious themes and whatnot. I can handle that. But the Abby character seemed to be there to beat the other characters (and therefore the reader) over the head with her super-Christian beliefs. It was a good thing her narrative was interspersed with Martyr’s or I might have found myself at a good old-fashioned Bible burning just to escape her character.

And as long as I’m griping about Abby, let’s talk JD, the hot boy from school who’s interested in her. Maybe he’s only interested in her because she’s the new girl in a small town, but whatever. It’s not his interest I’m concerned with, but her response to it. She seems to HATE him and the fact that he’s interested. Sure, the further we get in the book, the more douchy he becomes, but at the beginning, Abby hates him for ZERO reason other than to hate him. As a reader it seemed to me that the author was trying so hard to not have her character fall for the cute boy that it just made for an (even more) annoying character.

Pretty much, I just wasn’t a huge fan of Abby.

Recommended For: Fans of sci-fi that isn’t too sci-fi-y (cause that makes sense, right?). If you don’t mind having a Christian agenda pushed at you, give it a read – it has a good plot and definitely raises some interesting questions. If you bristle at religious themes in novels, steer clear, because they are not subtle in this one.

Anyway, Wednesday! Woot. And, shockingly, another month has passed us by. SO today the gals at YA Highway are asking:

What was the best book you read in October?

Normally when we do best-book posts, I have to go back and look at all the books I read that month and debate over which was my favorite. Not this month. This month I don’t even have to think about it – there’s a clear winner. My favorite book this month:

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit—more sparkly, more fun, more wild—the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket—a gifted inventor—steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

I won’t lie, I pretty much expected this to be my favorite book of the month before I even read it. I loved Anna and the French Kiss SO much, how could I not love a companion novel as well? And you know what? I think I like Lola even more, if that’s possible.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I KNOW I like Cricket Bell better than Etienne St. Clair. Gasp! How is that even possible? you ask. I don’t know, friends, but it’s true.

This one is a must read. Must.

Books I’ve read are bold.

Books I own are italicized.

Here we go:

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 – Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)
9. Anna Godberson – 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 Selznik – 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)
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, 3)
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. JK Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2, 3)
31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
33. Jeanne DuPrau – The 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. MT 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 Nighttime
55. Mary Ting – Crossroads
56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelopes (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 Rosof – 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. PC  Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
73. Phillip 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 & Nora’s Infinite Playlist
76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson & the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere Carnal Over  40 Winks
79. SL Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
80. Sabrina Bryan & JuliaDeVillers – Princess of Gossip
81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
83. Sarah Dessen – The Truth About Forever
84. Sarah 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, 4)
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 – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)
92. Stephenie Meyer – The Host
93. Stephenie Meyer – The 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 – The 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 

What about you? Have you read many on this list? What are your favorites of the ones listed above? Anything I haven’t read but really should? Let me know in the comments. 

What’s the best book you read in June?

June was a super light reading month for me – I only read three books, and I am not even halfway into the third one.  For someone who regularly reads 6-10 books a month, that’s nothing.

Even so, I had a tough time picking which was my favorite. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale was a beautifully written take of the fairy tale, and I loved it. But, I think Courage in Patience wins the race.

Nine-year-old Ashley Asher was pleased when her mother started a relationship with Charlie Baker. Charlie, Ashley thought, would be the father she never had. She was 9 then; now 15, she recounts the story of how her dream life soon turned to nightmare, commencing with the first time Charlie touched her inappropriately. For years she tolerated it—not only the sexual abuse but also the emotional manipulation her stepfather inflicted on her—until one day she confronted both Charlie and her mother. To Ashley’s horror, her mother sided with Charlie, leaving the teenager to find her own way, prompting her to reestablish a connection with her biological father. Though the subject matter is undeniably dark, Fehlbaum manages to keep the tone surprisingly light and hopeful. This hard-hitting but readable story about an infinitely troubling subject will resonate with all readers but especially with other survivors of abuse or with those who work with those survivors.

This book dealt with some pretty tough issues – it wasn’t just about Ashley’s abuse; the people in Patience, Texas also have to deal with racism, bullying, and censorship.  Fehlbaum deals with each issue with grace, while not overshadowing the importance of it. She doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff at all. Somehow she is able to keep up a nice, lighthearted feel throughout the narrative.

Courage in Patience was a smaller release, and chances are you won’t find it in your local bookstore. You can find it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, though.

Something I am great at though: line editing. The grammar is strong with this one. Things like word choice, sentence structure, and continuity are my forte’. That tiny, minor character in your manuscript who only shows up on page 31 and then again on page 287? I will remember if you said her eyes were blue in the beginning and then green toward the end. If it takes your characters only 15 minutes to get to the beach, but your characters can still go to a party at Duke University without any travel, I will catch you on it (here’s looking at you One Tree Hill – seriously, where is Tree Hill? It’s like the writers made it exist in a different dimension where the distances in this one don’t matter).

I know what my strengths are and, more importantly, where my weaknesses lie. I am working on being more critical of the big picture when reading, but for now, I hope my beta friends don’t mind me just pointing out the small picture stuff.

*Strange how it’s not hard for me to find faults in my own writing, just in others’.

What are the FIVE best books you read last year?

AND

If you had to sum up 2010 in a book title, what would it be?

I went back over my list of books read in 2010 to try to pull out my five favorites. It is funny how objective this is. Not just objective in the sense that three or four different people could easily have three or four vastly different opinions on the same book, but objective in that different timing and different moods will pull out different answers from the same person.

I notice this because, as I go through the list now, the ones that jump out at me the most aren’t necessarily the ones that I listed on a monthly what was your favorite book of the month post. And one would think that by declaring a favorite book of the month for twelve months, I would be narrowing my list of favorites of the year down to those twelve. Except that is not exactly how it worked out.

Maybe it is because I read a lot of my favorites right close together, so while one got beaten out in the monthly poll it is back in the running for the full year. Or maybe the time away from the books has helped me look at them again with a different perspective. Or maybe, just maybe, the mood I am in today – at this very moment – has a huge pull on how I am going to answer this question.

And maybe, also, I am way over-thinking this and should just get to my favorite five books of the year (that I read…not necessarily released in 2010).

Or my favorite a-lot-more-than-five books. Because, well, I cheated. Here they are, in no particular order:

I haven't read much Stephen King, but I sure loved this one. The story was creepy and compelling, but not over-the-top. It drew me in and wouldn't let me go even after the book ended.

The world Carrie created is so terrifying, yet compelling. Her narration is beautiful - it is amazing how beautiful one can be while writing about zombies. I can't wait to read the next one!

The characters in this book were so real as to be maddening at times. Everything about this book spoke true to me - the plot, the characters, the setting. I read it months and months ago but find myself thinking of it often still.

I rediscovered Sarah Dessen in early 2010 and have since read everything I could get my hands on. I have yet to read one of hers that I didn't absolutely LOVE (and there is only one I haven't read, so I have a feeling that won't change). I have a serious, serious author crush on Sarah Dessen.

I gushed about this book just the other day, so there is not much more to say here. It is amazing - go read it!

And, hmmm….if I had to sum up 2010 in a book title, it would be…uh…

Well, to be truly, truly fan-girl-y I have to go with a Sarah Dessen book here, too:

This year I learned to Just Listen to myself, my instinct, and my intuition. It is the best lesson I have learned in a long, long time.

]]> http://rachelbateman.com/2011/01/road-trip-wednesday-best-of-2010/feed/ 8 http://rachelbateman.com/2010/12/why-books-make-great-christmas-gifts/ http://rachelbateman.com/2010/12/why-books-make-great-christmas-gifts/#comments Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:12:17 +0000 Rachel http://rachelbateman.com/?p=2417

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." — Jacqueline Kennedy

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island." — Walt Disney

Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled "This could change your life." ~Helen Exley

No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. ~Mary Wortley Montagu

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." — Dr. Seuss

1.

2.

And, on a completely unrelated note: if you are an aspiring author and haven’t read Kiersten White’s blog post today, do so. It is awesome. My favorite line:

Don’t be so anxious to be an author that you never learn how to be a writer.

This is exactly what I was looking for last week when I talked about trying to find the pure joy in writing again. Great timing.

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “Duffy,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Ever since I first heard the term DUFF, I immediately wanted to read this book. How could I not? What girl (or probably boy, for that matter) hasn’t felt like the Designated Ugly Fat Friend in their group at some point or another? Each of us, no matter how hard we try, falls into the trap of comparing ourself to our friends and thinking we are less pretty, stylish, whatever. Needless to say, I was super excited to read this book and jumped at the chance to read it when it came up on the Traveling ARC Tour list.

Luckily, it didn’t disappoint. The character of Bianca was so fun! She is cynical and moody, but not in an annoying way. She is a realistic teenager; I remember having a lot of the same cynicism when I was in high school so it was super easy to relate to her. What I liked the most about her narration, though, is that she was fun. All that cynicism didn’t weigh down on me, like it often does when I read a narrative from a very cynical character.

Let’s just say cynical one more time, in case I didn’t write it enough times in the last paragraph.

The plot might not have been the most original in the world – who hasn’t read/seen the whole enemies-turned-into-something-more thing done before? What sets this book apart, though, is the original way Kody approaches the story. She has great, well-rounded characters, both the majors and the minors. I understand the reasoning behind Bianca’s choice to lose herself in the distraction Wesley gives her. I get where she is coming from, so I didn’t have a hard time reconciling why she would voluntarily be with someone she dislikes so immensely the way I do with many similar stories.

Many might find the language and sex in the book to be off-putting and inappropriate. But I feel it showed a side to teenage life that is often glazed over in novels. Not all teenage relationships are sweet and slow-moving. Sometimes they are ugly and intense and purely sexual. It might scare some to read about teenagers acting the way they do in this book, but the reality it: teenagers do act like this. Sure, not all, but enough to make this book realistic. The DUFF tackles some pretty serious subjects, but does so in a way that doesn’t glorify them. And as for the language: sure, there is a lot of it, both in dialogue and narration. But no biggie. Excessive language gets to me in books when I feel like it is there just for shock value or because the author is trying to be “edgy” or whatever, but I didn’t get that vibe at all in this book. I felt like the language is just part of Biance and who she is – this is just how she talks. So it didn’t faze me at all. It was just another part of the narrative.

I guess in a complete review I would also talk about aspects of the book I didn’t like – but now I can’t remember any reasons. Maybe I should have marked them as I was reading, because now I can’t remember a single thing I disliked about it. The good so outweighed the bad that I can’t even recall the bad. I love this book – right down to the cover, which, let’s face it, it awesome.

What are your favorite first lines? How do your own WIPs start?

To be honest, I don’t usually take much stock in the first line of a book. I know how important everyone says the first line is to setting the tone and drawing a reader in, but I guess I always just give books more of a chance. So the first line just blends in with the rest of the book. Because of that, I thought this would be a really hard question to answer.

But then I went to my bookshelves. I stared for about two minutes, and in that time, five books jumped out at me and reminded me how much I love their openings. Most are just first lines, but I did cheat on one, because the first three lines are really what did it for me:

The day I broke up with my boyfriend Evan was the day he wrote the song. You know, the song. I'm sure you've heard it.

Gestures are all that I have; sometimes they must be grand in nature.

I've been called Bone all my life, but my name's Ruth Anne.

Accidents ambush the unsuspecting, often violently, just like love.

The great gray beast February had eaten Harvey Swick alive.

And now! Onto my own first lines. Since I am knee deep in Incubus right now, it is only fitting that I share that one. It could change in edits, but here is where it is now:

The painting was meant to be of a sunset.

Now, you tell me: do you have any first lines that stand out to you? How do your favorite books start?

Snooki got a book deal – big effin’ deal.

I have seen a lot of rage floating around the internet since the announcement of Snooki’s book deal. (If you don’t know who Snooki is, um, consider yourself lucky.) Writers are flinging vitriol all over the interwebs, screaming and crying that it is so unfair that someone who has said in the past that she has only read two books in her life is now getting a book deal. No fair! We put our sweat and blood into our books and don’t get anywhere, but she can just walk off the boardwalk, all fake-tan and big hair, and land a (probably big) book deal?! No fair!

You know what? It’s not fair; it is business. The folks over at Simon & Schuster know how many people tune in each week to see Snooki and her friends/enemies/lovers/exes interact. And when they see that many people lining up, they see dollar signs floating in front of their eyes. After all, they have a business to run, and are expecting a sure sale here. (I, for one, won’t buy it, but not because – like many of my fellow writers – I am boycotting it…I just have zero interest in the plot.)

So we’ve established that it’s not fair…but whining isn’t going to do anyone a damn bit of good. Maybe Snooki’s book will sell enough copies to help Simon & Schuster finance other books. Maybe, just maybe, this isn’t such a bad thing. So stop whining about it – all that angst and self-pity isn’t getting you anywhere. You know what will get you somewhere? Working on your own book instead of worrying about anyone else’s.

So forget about Snooki (and all the other psuedo-celebrities who just walk into book deals) and set to work making your book the best it can be. Because that is the way you are going to find the success you want. Unless, of course, you decide it is easier to make a fool of yourself on a reality TV show, in which case: more power to ya.

Now get to work. Glenna, I’ll see you on Tuesday!

*(For the record: there is one celebrity YA novel I am actually kinda excited about: Hilary Duff’s. What I like about it is the plot synopsis sounds very intriguing and is not just a thinly veiled story of her life, which seems to be the case often when celebs write novels. I will probably read Elixir. Also, the cover is pretty. )*

I finished Mockingjay last week, after reading the whole trilogy back-to-back (I didn’t want any of that super-long anticipation like my friends had to deal with, so I just waited to read any of them. Here are a couple of thoughts I had after finishing. This whole post is pretty much me “thinking out loud” so it might not make any sense at all. Fair warning.

1. Team Peeta vs Team Gale

I heard a lot of questions since Catching Fire came out about Team Peeta or Team Gale. It was actually kinda a bummer, because I then knew that, no matter how bad things got in The Hunger Games or Catching Fire that Peeta survives it. Because, if he hadn’t, there wouldn’t be the contest anymore.

When reading, though, I had to wonder: why is there even a Team Gale? I liked Gale’s character a lot (well, less so in Mockingjay) and I thought he and Katniss were great together. As friends. Maybe she was just completely oblivious to his affection toward her – and since we see everything through her eyes we don’t see it – but I did not like that he suddenly seemed very interested in her once he had competition. Before Peeta, he was a great friend, a great hunting partner. Maybe he was too shy to act on his feelings for her until he thought he might loose her, but still. Peeta was so open and honest about how he felt about Katniss, it was hard to not want them to end up together.

Also, at the end, Peeta came back. Maybe Gale didn’t go back to District 12 because he knew that Katniss would not be with him the way he wanted, who knows? But Peeta went back as soon as he could and stayed beside her, helping her learn to deal with what had happened.

(While she might be crazy (kidding, Pam!), there are people who don’t like Peeta!)

2. Why I didn’t like Mockingjay as much.

And, no, it wasn’t because she killed Prim and Finnick. Actually, I went into the book knowing that Suzanne Collins was not afraid to kill off anyone, so I kinda expected Prim to die at the end. Prim was the one person Katniss cares about above all others, so it would be the most tragic thing to do. Then, once Finnick and Anne finally found happiness, I immediately started to worry about him. Because it would be the most brutal thing to do to kill him right when things are finally looking up for him. So, really, I was not surprised when either of them died.

I was still super sad when they died, but that is not why I didn’t like the book as much as the first two. My issue with Mockingjay stemmed more from Katniss’s character.

In the first two books, Katniss takes charge and acts. I mean, she has to – she is thrown in an arena where to not act is to die. But in Mockingjay she was being acted upon for the first half (at least) of the book. There was a lot of internal dialogue about things she would like to do, but she very rarely acted upon them. Which, given the situation she was in, I am not sure she could, so I think Suzanne Collins wrote true to her world, but I still had a hard time with it.

Also, her selfishness really started to get to me. In the arena, until she heard that both she and Peeta could win, she had to be selfish – it was the only way to survive. But even then she let herself go and took Rue in. She was not a selfish person then.

Then, in Catching Fire, her only goal is to save Peeta. She goes into the arena ready to sacrifice herself for him. So what happens in Mockingjay? The first part of the book she is still gung-ho on saving Peeta. But when he shows up after having been traumatized and manipulated by the Capitol, she gives up on him completely, sure that there is no getting him back now. She wants nothing to do with him and tries to stay as far away from him as possible. Just like that she drops the person she swore she would save – even at the cost of her own life.

Suddenly, she went from this caring, selfless person to someone who thought only of her own wants and needs. Grrrr.

Still, I loved Mockingjay. Katniss eventually came around and I got to liking her as a character again. But for a while there, I really couldn’t stand her much.

What’s the best book you read last month?

Since that insignificant little book called Mockingjay came out on the 24th, I can’t help but to wonder if I will be the only road-tripper not talking about it this week. But, since I haven’t read it yet, I guess I will have to skip calling it my favorite of the month.

My favorite book this month was:

“What do you want from me?” he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.

Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn’t a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all.

In this absorbing story by Melina Marchetta, nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.

Over the past few months, I have heard a lot of hype about Jellicoe Road, especially from the YA Highway girls. I have read multiple RTW favorite-book posts over the months that have raved about Jellicoe Road being a favorite not only of the month, but of the year, and possibly ever. Needless to say, I went in with high expectations.

When I first dove into the book, I enjoyed it, but was sad that I wasn’t getting the insta-pull I had been expecting. I mean, really, if it is all that these girls had made it out to be, surely it would grab me and force me to keep reading right from word one, right? Right? But it didn’t. Don’t get me wrong: I was enjoying the book just fine, I just was a little disheartened to find that I wasn’t having that great book-chemistry I had hoped for. Sigh.

But I kept reading (’cause, again, I WAS enjoying it, so it’s not like I was going to stop). And guess what happened? Before I knew it, I was totally hooked. I found myself holding my breath as I read, afraid to let it out until I knew exactly what was happening. My pulse quickened, my mind raced. Somewhere along the line, Jellicoe Road transformed from a good book to a holy-crap-this-is-freakin’-amazing-where-can-I-get-more book.

When I finally closed the book (and wiped a few tears away), I sat in awe for probably 15 full minutes before moving. Then, after acknowledging the fact that those YA Highway girls were right about the book all along, I went to bed. But I couldn’t sleep – Taylor’s story was still buzzing around in my head. I’ve read two books since, but I still find myself looking back at Taylor Markham’s tale quite frequently. It just won’t let me go.

To me, that is what makes a GREAT book.

In case you haven’t heard (and if you haven’t, where have you been the last…uh…forever?), a little book called Mockingjay was released yesterday. And in celebration, YA Highway wants to know:

How would YOU impress (or not impress) the Hunger Games judges?

Um, right. I can’t answer this question, because I - gasp! - have not yet read The Hunger Games or Catching Fire. I know, right? Where have I been the last…uh…forever? Here’s the deal: I bought both books when Catching Fire came out with big intentions of reading them. But, since I was in the middle of another book, I let Bubba read them first. He devoured them both and was instantly salivating for the third. Of course, he still had a year to wait for Mockingjay. I talked to more and more people and always heard similar stories: Catching Fire ended with a cliff hanger and now I have to wait a whole year to find out what happens!!!

So, right then, I made myself a deal. I decided that I would not read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire until I have Mockingjay in hand ready to be read. What can I say? I like that intant gratification.

How about you? How would you impress the judges? Head over to YA Highway and share!

**On a related note: we ordered Mockingjay from Amazon, and it damn well better get here soon, unlike our copy of Dexter: Season 4 that was supposed to get here last Tuesday and hasn’t arrived yet. Apparently Amazon doesn’t understand the importance of my getting my Dexter. This is entering emergency territory here.

Since I write YA books, I tend to read a lot of YA books. And – surprise! – YA books are primarily what I talk about on my blog.

But YA is not all I read (hello, I read the last 400+ pages of Under the Dome yesterday). In fact, I realized a few days ago that when I am asked for a good book recommendation, the two I go to first are not YA.

I recommend these two books time and time again because I love their stories; I love the characters, the heart, the writing itself; I love everything about these books. So they are the two I recommend to everyone, young and old alike.

1. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn’t simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life’s ordeals.

On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny’s wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoë, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoë at his side.

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life…as only a dog could tell it.

2. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

All children mythologize their birth…So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter’s collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.

The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself — all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter’s story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.

As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire.

Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida’s storytelling but remains suspicious of the author’s sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

The Thirteenth Tale is a love letter to reading, a book for the feral reader in all of us, a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and that we loved as children. Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter and, in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday life.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London’s Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa’s power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: Jem, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm’s length…everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world.

I have a confession: I have not read the Mortal Instruments series yet. I have them sitting on my bookshelf at home. I bought all three of them at the end of January (I think), but haven’t cracked them open yet. Bubba, however, plowed through all three of them in less than a week. Which is why, when I got Clockwork Angel from Traveling ARC Tours, I let him read it real quick before I read it (I was still reading Firelight anyway, so it was just sitting there…). So, while this review is mostly my own, I am going to draw from a few things the husband said, as his perspective was a little different having read the other books.

Okay…enough with that.

There isn’t much I can say about the plot (aside from what is in the synopsis above) that won’t give things away, so I will just dive right into what I thought.

As far as the plot goes, I loved this book. It was intriguing, with enough action to keep things moving right along, but enough mellow spots thrown in there to let me slow down and just enjoy the writing. Which is great. Clare’s prose is not overdone, and the style fits perfectly with the time period of the book.

I think I am just going to take a minute to break down the good and bad of this book, using only my favorite and least favorite things (I’ll admit: I am starving, but I won’t go get food until I finish this review, so I am only going for the extremes).

The Good: Maybe I only really noticed this because I was coming off of reading Firelight, where I was less-than-impressed with the characterization, but I loved it in this book. I felt like all the characters were fleshed out nicely here. Everyone had a motive, no matter how small, for acting the way they did. Good guys, bad guys, guys who I couldn’t tell whose side they were on…they all had their reasons for being the way they were. And we got to experience those reasons. Even Will – he often acted abrasive and cold for no apparent reason, but I also felt like he had a solid motivation for those actions. It never seemed that Clare just wrote his character that way; rather, I think he has some deep-seated reasons for acting like he does. Reasons I am hoping we will learn about in the next book (the epilogue of this one leads me to believe maybe we will).

The Semi-Bad: This is where Bubba comes in. Having not read Clare’s first books, I could not have picked up on this, but Bub definitely did. While the characters are well-fleshed out, they are also very reminiscent of the ones in the Mortal Instruments books. The husband unit says Jace and Will are very similar. There is a Gem-like character in the first series. The secondary girl characters shadow each other between the books. I will have to see if  I pick up on this when I read the other books (which I will soon, promise!), but Bubba definitely got that vibe.

The Bad: grrrrrrr. Why is it that in YA, when a girl finds herself with two semi-love interests, she always pisses me off? I see it happen time and time again. There is a girl. And two boys. One of the boys is sweet, kind, and gentle. He obviously adores her, though he might do it from afar, without being in-her-face about it. He is good to her, always. The other is hot and cold. One moment he is kind to her, the next he is abrasive. There is a spark between them, but as soon as they act on it in any way, he completely shuts down and treats her like crap. But which of these boys is she going to choose? Of course! What woman wouldn’t want to be with a guy who treats her like crap 50% of the time. Seems like the best option to me too.

Except for, yeah, no it doesn’t. Yet I see it over and over and over again in YA books  (probably in other books as well, but I will be honest that I see this setup in YA more than other genres). The girl almost always goes for the guy who is a jerk half the time. Yes, the argument could be made that this happens in true life a lot as well (which it does), but still I would like to see this change a bit. Can I suggest we all read Wicked Lovely for a great example on NOT doing this.

Phew. Rant over. Aside from my obvious issue with the love story, I really did adore this book. I will definitely read the rest of the series, along with the Mortal Instruments series.

With her rare ability to breathe fire, Jacinda is special even among the draki—the descendants of dragons who can shift between human and dragon forms. But when Jacinda’s rebelliousness leads her family to flee into the human world, she struggles to adapt, even as her draki spirit fades. The one thing that revives it is Will, whose family hunts her kind. Jacinda can’t resist getting closer to him, even though she knows she’s risking not only her life but the draki’s most closely guarded secret.

I had heard a lot of great things about this book, so when an ARC was offered up for the Traveling ARC Tours, I jumped at the opportunity to read it.  Still, I was a little apprehensive about Firelight before I dove in, and for the first part of the book.

The premise is intriguing. Jacina is a Draki; descended from dragons, she has the ability to change from human to draki form at will (mostly – draki is her natural form, so when she is threatened, it is self-defense to change, whether she wants to or not). More than that, though, Jacinda is a fire-breathing draki – the first in hundreds of years.

The pride she lives with considers Jacinda their crown jewel. Could the fire-breather help them solve the problem of diminishing population? We never find out, as, after a dangerous daytime flight (forbidden), Jacinda’s mother packs Jacinda and her twin sister in the car and runs from the pride. Now Jacinda must learn to live among the humans.

Problem is (aside from missing her pride), Mom moved them to the middle of the desert, and Jacinda’s draki-self is dying. She needs the cool, humid mountain air to sustain her. She is afraid that before long, she will lose that part of her self and be able to manifest as a draki no longer.

But, there is one thing in her new town that makes her draki feel alive, that makes her feel like she can soar again: Will. Will, whose family hunts the draki for money.

This is what made me nervous about the book. I am really burned out on YA novels where the main (female) character is drawn to the person she KNOWS is dangerous for her. I read it time and time again. The narrator mentions that so-and-so is dangerous and she shouldn’t be with him, but for some inexplicable reason she is drawn to him, so safety-be-damned she will be with him anyway. I was scared I would read more of this in Firelight and that it would make me dislike the book.

But I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, Jacinda knows that being around Will is not safe. She knows who his family is and what they do. She makes an actual effort to stay away from him, despite his efforts to get closer to her. She snubs him and avoids him; she even runs away from him once or twice. Eventually, yes, she gives in and spends time with him. Unlike the books where this irritates me, though, I felt that Jacinda had a solid reason for going into the danger zone. She wasn’t just blindly following love lust, she was trying to keep alive that part of herself she feared was dying.

I did have one major qualm about the book: characterization was just so-so. The main characters were fleshed out nicely, but the secondary ones were just kind of there. The mean girl was just mean (as was her posse); no characterization other than mean. Will’s family members(aside from him, of course) were only brutes with nothing to them other than being blood-thirsty hunters. Jacinda’s few friends were there, but unremarkable (I remember almost nothing about them). Even her twin sister and mother, whose characters were pretty important in my mind, did not get fully fleshed-out.

Overall, I enjoyed Firelight immensely. The plot, while simple, was solid, and I am excited to see what happens next.

(On a side note: I LOVE simple plots. A lot of people seem to think that to be good, a book must be complicated. Not so.)

Is it possible to love someone too much? Is it possible to love them so much you wish them dead?

Katherine Patterson wishes she could disappear. Instead, she does the next best thing. After the death of her talented younger sister, Katherine leaves her grieving parents to the media’s merciless scrutiny and moves to a new city and enrolls in a new school. Wary and alone, she seeks nothing more than anonymity. What she finds instead is the last thing she expected: a friend.

Alice Parrie is the most popular and magnetic girl in school. Extroverted, gorgeous, flirtatious, and unpredictable, she is everything that Katherine is not. Her enthusiasm is infectious, her candor sometimes unsettling, and she is impossible to resist. She takes it upon herself to involve Katherine in an entirely different life of parties and trips. She introduces Katherine to Robbie, her soulful on-again, off-again boyfriend. She becomes as close to Katherine as a sister can be, maybe even closer.

But Alice has secrets darker than anyone can imagine, and Katherine will soon discover the darkest of them all.

For Katherine Patterson, there is no escaping her past – only a descent into a trap far more sinister…and infinitely more seductive.

Beautiful Malice is another book I got to reading on a Traveling ARC Tour basis. I actually finished this one quite some time ago, but I had to wait a while to be able to write about it because it haunted me!

I don’t know that any review I give this book will do it real justice. The story is heartbreaking, the characters real, the emotions tangible. From the very first line – I didn’t go to Alice’s funeral. – I was absolutely hooked. There is no wonder in my mind why this book has sold in so many territories already (something like 33); it is just that amazing.

I can’t say much, because I don’t want to give much away. But I will say: this book releases in the US next week, and you all should run out to get it! Just make sure you are ready for a few sleepless nights, because this is a story that will not let go of you.

What’s the best book you read in May?

I actually only read a few books last month, so I don’t have as many to sift through as I did last time they asked this question. I read one book for YA book club, beta-read one, reread one, and read one ARC copy.

One really, really sticks out in my mind:

Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves¸ before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

What an intriguing concept! I got this book as part of a Traveling ARC Tour, and I am so thrilled that I got to read it early.

When I first started this book, I thought I wasn’t going to like it much, despite the premise. It opens with Haven looking in the mirror, describing her appearance, which instantly turned me off. I mean, not only is that an overdone thing, it just seems like lazy writing.

But…I kept reading. And by the second or third page I learned that there is a very specific reason why Haven is using the old mirror trick – that person she is looking at in the mirror is not the same person she sees in the mirror every day, but rather the one she sees only in her visions and dreams. Suddenly the mirror thing didn’t bother me so much.

As Haven’s visions come more frequently, she becomes more and more sure she is seeing memories of a past life. At the same time, her grandmother–and much of her small, bible-thumping Tennessee town–becomes more sure she has been possessed by a demon.

I won’t say much more about the plot, but I will tell you I loved it. While it is a love story, it didn’t cross into that realm where the romance is all that matters. In fact, most of the time I was way more caught up in the action than I was in the love story. Because there is great action, and great pacing to move the reader along through the action. I kept thinking I had the twists and turns figured out, but it turns out I am just not that clever. The Eternal Ones kept me guessing.

With all my raving about the plot, it might be hard for you to believe that it wasn’t my favorite part about The Eternal Ones. What was my favorite part, you ask? The characters! Kirsten Miller did such a great job on her characters. A lot of times when I read a book (especially a YA book), I notice that the main character and the love interest and maybe a secondary character or two are nicely fleshed-out, while the rest of the characters are really one-dimensional and flat. Pretty much they are just a bunch of cardboard cutouts standing in the background of what the main characters are doing.

This is SO not the case with The Eternal Ones. I love the attention Kirsten Miller gave to her characters–even ones we don’t see much in the book. Sure, there were things about Haven that irritated me (really, girl! Do you believe everything anyone tells you?!), but that doesn’t make her any less a real character. Probably I was so irritated by some of her actions because I know people like that–she was real enough to annoy me. It’s like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix–sure, Harry is a bratty little hormonal teenager in that book….but what 15-year-old boy isn’t?

Wow. I just compared The Eternal Ones to Harry Potter. It must really be good!

The Eternal Ones will be released in August by Razorbill. I highly recommend it. To read a excerpt now (how fun!) check out TheEternalOnes.com.