nowhere girl

9/13/11
Nowhere Girl | A.J. Paquette
Walker Books for Young Readers
Hardcover/256pp.

Luchi Ann only knows a few things about herself: she was born in a prison in Thailand. Her American mother was an inmate there. And now that her mother has died, Luchi must leave the only place she's ever known and set out into the world. Neither at home as a Thai, because of her fair skin and blond hair, nor as a foreigner, because of her knowledge of Thai life and traditions, Luchi feels as though she belongs nowhere. But as she embarks on an amazing adventure-a journey spanning continents and customs, harrowing danger and exhilarating experiences-she will find the family, and the home, she's always dreamed of. Weaving intricate elements of traditional Thailand into a modern-day fairy tale unique unto itself, Nowhere Girl is a beautifully rendered story of courage, resilience, and finding the one place where you truly belong.

Multi-cultural middle grade, holla. There’s nothing better than spending a few days in a foreign country with that naive, wondered-by-discovery voice you get in middle grade fiction. Seeing the cover was enough to get me to add NOWHERE GIRL to my to-read list; the straw hat, the dark forest, and the Thai-looking temple in the background set the tone for an emotional story about a young girl in a world that seems so far away.

NOWHERE GIRL is about Luchi Ann, but don’t tell her I told you her name; she’ll get very upset. You see, Luchi Ann’s mother has just died, and one of the last pieces of advice she gave her daughter was: don’t tell anyone your real name. When her mother dies, Luchi Ann has a choice: stay in the Thai women’s prison in which she was born in, or leave. Go see the world. Be free.

Luchi Ann leaves. With no clue about her other family, why she seems to not be like the other people in Thailand (Luchi Ann is American), or why her mother was in the women’s prison in the first place. On the way to finding where she belongs, she discovers the secrets of her mother’s past. And they aren’t pretty.

So basically, I really freaking enjoyed this book. Luchi Ann is so desperate for guidance and love and a home, she’s so young, I couldn’t help but fall in love with her narration. I was awed by how incredibly brave she was, and the insurmountable hope she kept throughout the entire story.

I’ll admit, the story is a bit slow-moving. That doesn’t mean it’s boring, though. Ms. Paquette’s writing is so lovely, and her characters so emotionally real, that you flip and flip the pages and lose your sense of time, because you are in her story, experiencing everything Luchi Ann is and getting bruised and beat up along the way. NOWHERE GIRL is about a girl in search of a home, and it is beautiful.

LAST RITE COVER REVEAL + ARC GIVEAWAY

BOY, DO I HAVE A TREAT YOU.



When my friend Lisa Desrochers sent me an email with the words “Last Rite” and “cover” in the subject, I jumped. And when I opened it, I squealed. And when I saw the cover, the real-life, actual LAST RITE cover, I jumped and squealed and screamed and hollered.

This cover is the best. The. Best.



And Lisa Desrochers, the absolute cupcake that she is, has decided to make the cover reveal a little more fun.

Each blogger that’s participating in the reveal has been given a word or two. What you readers have to do is visit each blog, collect all the words, and unscramble the sentence. THEN you will visit Lisa Desrochers’s fine blog, and you will enter to win something (it’s 5am when I’m writing this and I am SLEEPY, okay? and I can’t remember what the prize is so don’t judge me).

My word is: trust.

If you’re slow like me and absolutely cannot figure out what the unscrambled sentence is, BRENT HAV SPECIAL TREAT JUSTAFA YHU: I am giving away a galley of LAST RITE, and you do not have to have good unscrambling skills to enter!

You just have to fill out this form.

Giveaway rules:

• Open to entries in the US only
• Open to entries until October 7th
• One entry per person
• Fill out the form below

ARC FOR TOURING!

My best friend ever and favorite person in the whole entire world, JH Trumble, has this book coming out on December 27th, and guess who has an ARC they’d like to share?



ME!

I had the fine privilege of reading this brilliant masterpiece back in summer ‘10, and I’m reading the ARC now, and it’s soooo extremely interesting seeing a book after it’s been edited. I loved the story when I first read it, before Kensington had even laid eyes on it, and I love it even more now.

ANYWAY, this is a fantastic story, and I want to share it you guys. So I’m shipping my ARC around the country so you can all read it and, if you like it, which I’m sure you will, help spread the word about JH’s fine writing.

It’d be great if a lot of bloggers signed up for the tour, but it’s also totally OK if you’re not a blogger. So, writers, readers, non-bloggers, etc., you are welcome to join.

Fill out the form below. Signing up doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be on the ARC tour! Each person will have one (1) week to read the book and then they will be required to ship the book to the next person on the list. I’ll be in touch with you if you get on the tour (it’s basically first come, first serve).

the unwanteds by lisa mcmann

8/31/11
The Unwanteds | Lisa McMann
Aladdin
Hardcover/390pp.

Every year in Quill, thirteen-year-olds are sorted into categories: the strong, intelligent Wanteds go to university, and the artistic Unwanteds are sent to their deaths.
Thirteen-year-old Alex tries his hardest to be stoic when his fate is announced as Unwanted, even while leaving behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted. Upon arrival at the destination where he expected to be eliminated, however, Alex discovers a stunning secret—behind the mirage of the "death farm" there is instead a place called Artime.
In Artime, each child is taught to cultivate their creative abilities and learn how to use them magically, weaving spells through paintbrushes and musical instruments. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it's a wondrous transformation.
But it's a rare, unique occurence for twins to be separated between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron's bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artime that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate, magical battle.

Brent’s opinion of the novel:
Prior to THE UNWANTEDS, I was (shamefully) a McMann-virgin. Whenever I saw one of her books around the store, I’d be all, “I WILL BUY THAT! TODAY!” and I’d forget and months would go by until my next shopping spree and I’d forget again. Anyway, when I saw she was writing middle grade, THE UNWANTEDS went to the top of my to-read list! Middle grade fantasy is the best, and when Kirkus calls something “The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter,” you just know you can’t pass it up.

McMann is great at creating tension. The story starts off with nervousness and gut-wrenchingness and scaredness and OMG, what will happen nextness. Also, the main characters are delish. I loved reading the alternate POVs, switching between Alex (the unwanted) and Aaron (the wanted). 

As soon as I started THE UNWANTEDS, I couldn’t stop. McMann has marvelous voice, and if she nails YA just as good as she does MG, I need to read those books stat. THE UNWANTEDS is the story of two brothers—twins—and what happens when the government they live under decides one of them is disposable. It’s about art, it’s about creativity, and it’s about being different.

Mara Madness Blog Tour

I bring you Michelle Hodkin, the brilliant lady behind the most psychotic + addicting read of the year, THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER. My lucky self snagged a spot on the official blog tour, and I’m so thrilled to have Ms. Hodkin discuss her MARA DYER playlist with you.

 Website / Blog / Twitter
At the age of sixteen, Michelle Hodkin lost the rights to her soul in a poker game with pirates just south of Natchez. Shortly thereafter, she joined an acting troupe and traveled the world performing feats of wonder and mischief. She has been seen on stages nationwide and earned rave reviews for her one woman performance of Titus Andronicus before writing THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER, her first novel. Michelle currently lives with her three pets and may or may not be a reliable narrator of her own life.

***
I’ve been answering a lot of MARA DYER related questions lately (which I love!) and one of the ones I hear most often is: “Did you listen to music when you wrote it?”

For a book that mentions a band in the very first paragraph, it’s probably not surprising to anyone that the answer is yes. For some scenes, music was pivotal for the creation of a particular mood. Other scenes might not have existed if some songs hadn’t popped up in iTunes at just the right moment.

I love searching out playlists for the books I love the most so that when I reread the book, I can listen to the music the author listened to when he or she wrote it. My biggest hope is that in a few weeks, someone out there will love MARA DYER enough to do the same. Anonymous MARA DYER person? This is for you.

Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing (Chris Isaac)
Mad World (Gary Jules)
New Slang (The Shins)
Crazy (Gnarles Barkley)
I Will Possess Your Heart (Death Cab for Cutie)
Hide and Seek (Imogen Heap)
Night Terror (Laura Marling)
Paper Bag (Fiona Apple)
Tymps (Sick in the Head) (Fiona Apple)
Put Your Lights On (Santana)
Lunchbox (Marilyn Manson)
Shadowboxer (Fiona Apple)
Someone to Save You (One Republic)
Demons (Guster)
Down in the Park (Marilyn Manson)
Burden In My Hand (Soundgarden)
Today (Joshua Radin)
Marching Bands of Manhattan (Death Cab for Cutie)
Good Life (One Republic)
Back to Black (Amy Winehouse)
When the Lights Go Out (The Black Keys)
O Saya (A R Rahman & M.I.A.)
Closer (Kings of Leon)
Transatlanticism (Death Cab for Cutie)
Limp (Fiona Apple)
It’s All In Your Mind (Beck)
What If You (Joshua Radin)
When The Night Comes (Dan Auerbach),
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley),
Crosses (Jose Gonzalez)
I Was Broken (written by Marcus Foster & performed by Robert Pattinson)
Say Hello To Heaven (Temple of the Dog)
Killing for Love (Jose Gonzalez)
Criminal (Fiona Apple)
Fast As You Can (Fiona Apple)
Black Dog (Kelli Schaefer)
***

Thanks, Michelle! So interesting.

Now, let’s have a little fun. If you don’t already know: each blog on the tour has been assigned a letter. When you collect each letter and arrange them in a particular way, they form a key sentence in THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER. Once you get all the letters and figure out what the sentence is, submit your answer here: viewform-formkey=dDg0UzA3VmpKaVExVW9DLVNnMDJyZ2c6MQ.

My letter is…



For the full list of blogs on the tour, visit here: unbecoming-of-mara-dyer-blog-tour.html

cover interview w/ scott tracey

Hey guys! Today I bring you the super cool Scott Tracey, author of WITCH EYES (Flux, Sept. 8, order here, here, and here). We are discussing his book cover, and oh, what a cover it is.


1) Is it just me, or does the dude on the cover of WITCH EYES have a rainbow-colored eye? Does this have any significance to the story? Do I smell gay witches? Not so much a rainbow eye as an eye full of lightning. So if you're asking if the book contains a lot of fabulous electrocutions....well, you'll just have to read and find out. But yes, Braden, the main character, is gay, but that's just one aspect of what his life's all about. He suffers under a condition known as the witch eyes - a power that reveals the world as it really is: a living memory of pain, magic, and darkness.

2) It looks like there's a red-ish mansion at the bottom. Does this mean there's MYSTERY, and SECRET PASSAGEWAYS, and HOT ROOMMATES in your story? There's actually two mansions featured in the book, and the one on the cover (to me) is more of the second mansion, which we only see briefly at the end. But there's definitely an element of mystery at the core of Witch Eyes - Braden comes to Belle Dam looking for answers. And the longer he's there, the more questions that come up.

Alas, there aren't any secret passages (in this book), but there's a hottie or two.

3) There's this dark, brooding forest in the background of your cover. Not saying your story is set in a forest, but: can you tell me a little bit about the setting of WITCH EYES and the role it plays in the story and/or cover? Witch Eyes is set in Belle Dam, a city in Washington that's up the road about an hour northwest of Seattle. It's a city that was founded by two families, the Lansings and the Thorpes, and just like Gretchen Weiners' hair, it's full of secrets. It's a city full of intrigue: which side are you on, how can you curry favor with Jason Thorpe or Catherine Lansing, how can you use those secrets you've collected.

Belle Dam is a city that was founded by witches, and the supernatural undercurrent stretches all the way throughout the city. Now, most people don't know that magic is real, but they know that things in their town are...different, and it affects the way they deal with their daily lives.

4) I'm only speaking for myself when I say this: I get a dark, mysterious feel from the cover. What tone do you think it sets? Do you think it's accurate to your writing + the WITCH EYES story? I think the cover sets the tone perfectly. While I don't think Witch Eyes is as dark as some other YA urban fantasies (and don't get me wrong, I love me some dark YA), I think it has its moments. There's a little bit of somberness in it, I think, and seriousness. One of my favorite movies is Cruel Intentions, and that was the kind of atmosphere I was going for with Witch Eyes - something that has it's light hearted moments, but then things get serious.

5) If you could add one thing to the cover (a tagline, a Barbie doll in the bottom left corner, the McDonald's arches, etc.) what would it be and why? I'm going to be lame and say I wouldn't add anything. I tried, valiantly, for months to try and come up with some sort of tagline that I could use on my website, and couldn't come up with anything, so that's definitely out. And I think Flux did a fantastic job with the cover, it seriously blows me away every day.