I need YOU!

I need your help.

I read a very great short story, titled The Dream Thief, by author Scott Tracey (Witch Eyes, Fall 2011)

I'm not usually a huge short story reader. And there's a reason for that, as exampled in Tracey's story.

I want more.

The world-building in this short piece is phenomenal and I think it would make a great novel. But Mr. Scott Tracey whines says he has too much "on his plate."

So I started a petition. And promised Scott Tracey 100+ signatures.

If you could read the story, which is short and fantastic, and sign the petition, I'll forever be in your debt! Really, it's something I probably would have posted about anyway because I think it shows a great example of world-building. Enjoy!

Blogging Break & I Need Your Opinion

I'm taking a break from blogging this week to be sick. I caught a cold (I blame Twitter) and things are in my brain making my thinking process a slurred mess.

I'm also reading Plato. For one of my lit classes.

Colds and Plato don't go together well, let me tell you.

I'll be back this Friday to post an awesome contest and reviews will start popping up again on my regular schedule on Monday.

But since you're here, and I can't be smart enough to string together a review, I thought I'd ask your opinion.

I've posted a few author reviews the past few weeks: Paranormalcy reviewed by Carrie Harris, The Education of Robert Nifkin reviewed by Joan Frances Turner, Hex Hall reviewed by Wendy Delsol, and Lips Touch reviewed by Beth Revis. If you haven't read them, Author Review is a new feature I started around a month ago and I think it's been a lot of fun seeing what authors like to read. But I haven't gotten a lot of feedback from you guys. What do you think? Do you find it interesting? Should I keep it up? Are there any authors you'd like to see featured?

Your feedback would help me a ton. I've been trying to post two of my own reviews as well as one author review - as well as other bookish news - weekly, but it'd be a lot of help if you'd all tell me what you think and, more importantly, authors you'd like to see!

Whoever leaves a comment gets a cookie. I'll be hanging out in the comments section while I get over this nasty cold, so I'll (hopefully) see you there for discussion.

What author would you like to see review one of their favorite books? (And hey, if you ARE an author, let me know if you'd like to participate!) I'll do my best to contact whoever is mentioned.

Leave a Mark Auctions

The Leave a Mark Auctions are back! The past couple of years, I've co-organized (alongside Lauren from Shooting Stars Mag, who honestly does most of the work) something I'm very proud to be a part of.

If you haven't heard about Leave a Mark, we auction off books marked up by the authors themselves. ALL of the proceeds go to First Book, an organization that provides low-income families with books. You can check out our specific page at firstbook.org/leaveamark if you'd like to donate, but to place a bid you can go to leaveamarkauctions.com!

Right now, we're auctioning off a copy of Prom Nights from Hell marked up by Meg Cabot, Lauren Myracle, and Michelle Jaffe. That means they wrote notes and blurbs within the book, which makes it one-of-a-kind : and all the proceeds go to a good cause. If you want to place a bid, just head to leaveamarkauctions.com, read the rules, and comment!

If you have any questions or you're an author possibly wanting to participate next year, email us at leaveamark@ymail.com

September's Contest is Nomadic

If you're wondering what happened to September's monthly contest, it wandered off on me. I meant to lasso it, but my cowgirl skills aren't at their best.

So I'm going all or nothing. Really, I'm just doubling October's contest prize so the winner gets twice the epicness. But I'm still announcing August's contest winner, which is Caley - who wins $40 of her own choice of books. Caley, I've emailed you!

I'm off to Cincinnati for the Smart Chicks Kick it Tour, so I'll be back to tell you all about it. In the meantime, be ready for October's contest once it hits! The winner is gonna get a lot of books.

What books are on your to-buy list right now? Let me know in the comments. You might win them next month! Me? I'm placing an order for Sea by Heidi Kling, Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian, and Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupula. I'm craving some good contemporary.

Author Review: Carrie Harris Reviews Paranormalcy

Carrie Harris is the author of Bad Taste in Boys, a YA zombie novel coming out in July 2011.

Super-smartie Kate Grable gets to play doctor, helping out her high school football team. Not only will the experience look good on her college apps, she gets to be this close to her quarterback crush, Aaron. Then something disturbing happens. Kate finds out that the coach has given the team steroids. Except . . . the vials she finds don’t exactly contain steroids. Whatever’s in them is turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless, flesh-eating . . . zombies.

It’s scary. It’s twisted. It’s sick. It’s high school.

Carrie Harris is here today to participate in my Author Review feature, where YA authors review YA books. It's a feature that flips the tables and lets you learn what authors themselves like to read. If you're an author or publisher who wants to participate in or find out more about this feature, email me at thepageflipper@yahoo.com.

And, as a sidenote, this review was written before Paranormalcy's release - now that it's out, you don't have to hate Carrie for having an ARC!

Everything below this line are the words of Carrie Harris.

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Of course I love writing books, but there are a lot of perks to this whole author thing that I didn’t anticipate. I can wear my I Do Bad Things rhinestone t-shirt to work, and nobody looks at me funny. I get paid for babbling on about monsters that smell like fish sticks. I have my own ninja attack squad. (Okay, I had that before I became a writer, but now I have a good reason to have one.) And I occasionally get to read books before the rest of the world.

So please don’t hate me when I say that I’ve read Paranormalcy by Kiersten White, and it’s bleeping good.

Here’s the thing—I will admit to sometimes getting a little frustrated with narrators of certain-books-I-will-not-name. Sometimes they’re so perfect that I start wondering if they’re really cyborgs and, if so, where the heck I can find the off switch. Because hello? I already feel bad that I never got to date a glow-in-the-dark weregopher with perfectly gelled hair and the face of a (slightly gopherish) angel. I don’t need a narrator inferiority complex on top of that. And then there are the narrators that are so dim witted that they don’t even realize their boyfriend is a glow-in-the-dark weregopher, even after he lights up like a disco ball when he walks her home at night and wears a t-shirt that says, “I’m a weregopher! No, REALLY.” Those books are certainly the minority, but still…they kinda drive me crazy.

Paranormalcy’s not like that. It’s about a girl named Evie who works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. Evie’s the only person on earth who can see through supernatural glamours, which makes her pretty valuable…and isolated. Add in a hot faerie ex with a possible hidden agenda, a wicked bad prophecy, and a shapeshifter she’s not supposed to fall for, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

Evie’s neither cyborg-perfect nor agonizingly stupid. She’s smart and sassy and brave, but she still struggles with the difference between what her life is and what she wants it to be. And that’s before her life gets tossed upside down! She tries to face each new problem with a sense of humor, but it’s still tough for her to deal. I love that Paranormalcy doesn’t shy away from that! There are no glowy weregophers swooping in to the rescue. (Do weregophers swoop? I have no idea.) With Paranormalcy, what you get is one girl trying to make the best out of things when everything goes whack-a-ding-hoy. Hilariously, heart-breakingly, agonizingly so.

Evie dreams about hanging with the kids from her favorite show, Easton Heights. As for me? I dream about hanging with Evie.

You should read this book. But know that I have dibs on Reth. Remember that ninja attack squad I mentioned earlier? Yeah, I just threatened you with ninjas. Please don’t hold it against me.

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If you want to find out more about Carrie Harris or Bad Taste in Boys you can head to her website.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall was one of my favorite books of 2010, which I go into more detail about here. It's a fantastic book. So when I heard about Lauren Oliver's new novel, Delirium, I not only wanted to read it because of the author but because the premise sounded very intriguing: it's about a society where love is diagnosed as a disease and everyone must be cured when they reach the age of 18. The main character, Lena, is ready for her cure: until she falls in love.

This book was pretty phenomenal. I might have to say I liked Before I Fall a tiny fraction more - I think the writing itself in Before I Fall was more to my taste - but Delirium was outstanding in its own way. I was wary about jumping into it: a society like that can be very implausible. But the way Lauren Oliver writes about "deliria nervosa" almost seems textbook. It's believable. And it's one of the most terrifying dystopians I've read. Not because there are man-eating cannibals or the earth just got hit by a big meteor, but because it's haunting. It's a zombie novel without zombies. Humanity just isn't interesting without love. And in this book, it's not just the love between a boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife, but between a mother and her children and between friends. Emotions are just...diminished. And that's freaking scary.

This book is one that leaves a mark on you, and I didn't expect anything less from Lauren Oliver. The ending left me in awe. I can't even begin to describe my thoughts when I shut the cover. It's just a really beautiful novel and it says a lot about humanity in general.

This is a book you'll get more out of by just reading it. I can't accurately analyze it because it's the kind of book that, I think, will impact everyone differently. I'd say I love it, but that word's kind of illegal in Delirium.

NetGalley Interview

Ever since I got my Nook, I've been a huge fan of ebooks. They're cheaper than hardcovers, take up no space, and save trees. Not to mention, as a reviewer, it's easier on both me and the publicist to access titles. So when I found NetGalley, I fell in love. And I had the opportunity to interview Lindsey Rudnickas, Digital Concierge at NetGalley. If you're a reviewer or librarian or bookseller, NetGalley is an awesome resource. Check out the interview if you want to find out more!

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NetGalley is for people who read and recommend books. For publishers, NetGalley is an inexpensive and green way to invite contacts to view their digital galleys, on a variety of devices/formats. For “professional readers” (our term for reviewers, media, bloggers, journalists, librarians, booksellers and educators), NetGalley is a place to read and request galleys they want to review. Readers can sign up for free at www.netgalley.com.

I’m the “Digital Concierge” at NetGalley. That’s a cool way of saying I'm the main liaison between our publisher community and our reader community. I help readers use NetGalley effectively and connect them with content. I also help publishers maximize their NetGalley experience, and connect them with readers who may be interested in reviewing their books. I handle all the promotional activities too—like featuring certain titles in our newsletters, on our homepage, on our Buzz Page, and coordinating launch week promotions with the publishers. I also handle our Twitter (@NetGalley) and Facebook, so connect with me anytime: twitter.com/NetGalley or facebook.com/NetGalley.

NetGalley copies can be downloaded onto the Nook and Kindle, which makes ebooks much more accessible than they used to be. What's your opinion on ebooks vs ARCs and do you think printed galleys will eventually be eliminated?

Yes, e-reading devices (like the Nook and Kindle – and there are many more!) have certainly made ebooks more prevalent, and this trend has extended to ARCs and galleys. At this point, it seems just a matter of when – not if – digital galleys will replace printed ones. Right now, I think we’re still in the stage of “both” rather than “either/or” – meaning, many publishers who are offering digital galleys are still doing some printed ones (perhaps they just cut back on the number that they print, or only print galleys for certain titles). But we have heard from a few publishers who use NetGalley that they have stopped printing galleys altogether because NetGalley was so successful for them. Believe me, that made our day!

But I want to be clear that we’re not “anti-print” by any means! For galleys, which inevitably become obsolete as soon as the printed book comes out and are often thrown away, it just makes sense to save money on printing and shipping while also having unlimited reach with a digital galley. But for finished books, I firmly believe there is room in this world for BOTH print and ebooks.

What's the greatest thing about NetGalley?

Tough question! For “professional readers,” I think the best thing about NetGalley is hearing about new titles and getting access to them FAST. We did a member survey awhile back and over 70% said that “quick access to new titles” was their favorite feature of digital galleys. But closely following that was portability and being able to “read on the go.” Personally, I think the “one-stop-shopping” aspect of NetGalley is really important, too. Publishers can upload extra files, like tour schedules, press releases, author Q&As, audio and video clips, etc to the Digital Press Kit for each title. This means professional readers can get all the extra information and materials in the same place as they read/download the galley. And if they need to contact the publisher, there’s a button for that too.

In your opinion, how much of a book's publicity is based on generating early buzz?

As a former book publicist, I know that’s one of the most important aspects of the job: generating buzz just before the book is about to hit shelves. If readers hear about a title over and over, and in a generally positive way (and especially from a source they trust), they’ll recognize the book when they walk into a bookstore. Or best case, they’ll be going to the bookstore to find that particular title in the first place! But the wheels are in motion well before the on-sale date. If you can get enough buzz happening for a book months before pub date, you’ll get more early interest from reviewers/media and hopefully line up a bunch more coverage (the snowball effect). It’s always great when you can avoid having a book hit stores before any buzz/coverage has occurred, since then the publicist is playing catch-up and trying to spark interest in a title that many reviewers/media will soon think of as “old.”

That’s why it’s so cool that NetGalley allows publicists to give their contacts instant access to galleys – so as soon as a reviewer expresses interest, they can get them the galley without waiting on shipping or worrying if they’ll have enough printed galleys to last until pub date. And since there’s no limit on how many galleys are distributed using NetGalley, publishers can target tons of communities: reviewers, bloggers, media, educators/professors, librarians – the possibilities are endless, and buzz can be built on a wider scale.

How has NetGalley grown from when it first started and do you believe it will continue its growth?

NetGalley has grown significantly – especially recently. We’re seeing our member community grow very rapidly: just since June 1st, we’ve had over 1,000 new members join NetGalley. We now have well over 10,000 members registered with NetGalley.

Our list of publishers has also grown. As of now, we’re working with about 50 publishers, but that’s expanding nearly every week! We recently announced a partnership with HarperCollins, which is very exciting. You can see the full list here.

But it’s not just about the numbers: we’ve seen the acceptance and excitement about NetGalley really explode in certain communities, particularly with bloggers and librarians. It’s very gratifying to know we’re filling a void in that way. If you’re interested, check out our “What Readers Are Saying About NetGalley” page for some real feedback: http://www.netgalley.com/about/Readers/

Thanks so much for taking the time to learn about NetGalley! Anyone can contact me with questions via support(at)netgalley.com. And be sure to check out the site: www.netgalley.com!

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron is a prison unlike any other. Finn, one of the main characters, lives in Incarceron and dreams of escaping. Claudia, the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, lives on the outside and dreams of escaping her own fate: eventual marriage to someone she can't stand and a world of politics. When Finn and Claudia come in contact through two similar devices shaped like keys, the plot starts unraveling.

First off, I have absolutely no idea what genre this book is. Question mark? That's how I feel about this entire book, basically.

I'm not fully sure on my opinion for this one. I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but there were some elements that were confusing and unexplained. There was too much going on in one book - jumping around from one place to another and switching POVs - that it almost felt like two (or three) separate plots.

There were some elements, though, that were very interesting. In the world outside of Incarceron, everything is restricted. There is a set time era and no new technology beyond that era is allowed. It's interesting seeing the politics and decisions behind this kind of action, and there were parts of Incarceron and it's separate societies and technology that fascinated me. I also really enjoyed the opening scene, and expected the book to followup with a plot that was as gripping.

That said, it felt a little too...everywhere for me. This was another book my book club picked and none of us really felt much connection to the story.

The one character I did connect with, though, was Keiro, Finn's "blood brother," so to speak. He had personality, even if it was the kind you're supposed to hate, and was continuously described as a rogue (and honestly, who doesn't love a rogue?) His loyalty was always in question, but he always seemed to be on Finn's side, even if he was a dillhole about it. He was the one character that had enough depth to make me like him.

And the religious undertones in this book were, to me, very obvious. It distracted from the general story arc, in a way.

I feel like I'll read Sapphique, because I'm really interested in seeing what happens next and I think it makes me think. But I just didn't come away from this book with a real attachment to anything.

Author Review: Joan Frances Turner Reviews The Education of Robert Nifkin

Nine years ago, Jessie had a family.
Now, she has a gang.
Nine years ago, Jessie was a vegetarian.
Now, she eats very fresh meat.
Nine years ago,
Jessie was in a car crash and died.
Nine years ago, Jessie was human.
Now, she’s not.

Joan Frances Turner is the author of Dust, a "nail-bitingly good Zombie romp that magically morphs into an intelligent treatise on life, death and the fallibility of being human," according to Amber Benson, Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress. Laurell K. Hamilton also says "“Dust is a thoughtful, poignant, and frightening book about the undead." And I could go on quoting famous authors, but the gist is that this book's good.

Today, Joan Frances Turner is taking part in my Author Review feature, where authors write about books that have left an impact. Any interested authors or publishers wanting to participate in or find out more about this feature can email me.

Everything below this line are the words of Joan Frances Turner.

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A Kink in His Castle

The 1970s and '80s, my formative years, were a sort of golden age for the young adult "problem novel"--those well-meaning, sometimes painfully earnest and didactic, often roundly mocked stories of adolescent characters Confronting Serious Social Dilemmas Which Face Young People Today And Learning A Valuable Lesson. (I actually love few things more than a good old-fashioned old school problem novel, but that's a literary defense for another day.) The author Daniel Pinkwater sends them up to hilarious effect in Young Adult Novel: "So here was Kevin, a thirteen-year-old alcoholic, pusher, and thief…It seemed to Kevin that there wasn't a chance in the world that he would ever get his life straightened out. And he was right. So we hit him over the head and fed him to the pigs." There's a subtler and more satisfying subversion of the genre, however, in his semi-autobiographical 1998 YA novel The Education of Robert Nifkin.

The Education of Robert Nifkin, set in 1950s Chicago, is written in the form of a college application essay in which the titular character attempts to explain his somewhat unconventional school experiences. Robert, when we first meet him, has all the earmarks of a put-upon, persecuted, misunderstood Problem Novel protagonist: His father's a trigger-tempered "son-of-a-bitch from Eastern Europe," his mother rifles through his belongings seeking evidence of "Bolshevism," he's stuck in a knuckle-draggingly reactionary high school doing ROTC drills in place of gym, his classmates ostracize him, his teachers are convinced he's both a Communist and a "fairy," his clothes are better suited to someone "going to high school in Lodz or Krakow, twenty years ago," and he's fat. Extremely fat.

Clearly, the stage is set for exquisite adolescent suffering on a grand scale. Robert and his creator, however, didn't get the memo, so instead of yearning for acceptance, or martyring himself with theatrical acts of rebellion, Robert keeps his head down, plots his escape and keeps confounding our Problem Novel expectations. ROTC isn't a brutal soul-crushing ordeal, but a chance to skip gym and listen to Sergeant Gunter's enlightening readings about the dictatorship of the proletariat (until another student blows the whistle). He's not embarrassed but pleased when his weight necessitates a new, custom-made ROTC uniform--which he immediately accessorizes with garish argyle socks that "flash with every step." Falling in with the "wrong" crowd--beatnik truants who've taken up art forgery--constitutes not a moral dilemma but a valuable lesson in free-market absurdities. Unlike the lion's share of his Problem Novel siblings, Robert doesn't have to strive, self-consciously, to "be an individual": He simply is one. (And, as an added bonus, a Goon Show fan to boot. Any YA novel that casually references The Goon Show is doing something right.)

Robert's brain, even more than his body, is too large and expansive for Riverview High: "Boredom," he reflects, "can hurt like physical pain, like wearing an iron hat, like sandpaper clothes, like being crushed under a big stone." Disgusted by his authoritarian teachers and passive classmates, he plays hooky, haunts the city museums and libraries, sneaks into University of Chicago classes, reads everything he gets his hands on, and through a series of happy accidents ends up in the ultra-bohemian Wheaton School, a refuge for "delinquents, neurotics, idiots, freaks and a few innocents whose parents were crazy enough to believe they were sending their child to a fancy private school." Even with all the freedom Wheaton's got to offer, though, some of Robert's new classmates squander the opportunity, eternally waiting for someone else to tell them how to think. Robert's experiences at the other end of the spectrum, then, finally put him in good stead: He already realizes what many never do, that education is a lifelong act, his own responsibility and something that never comes without a fight.

The Education of Robert Nifkin is one of my favorite YA books because it takes the time-honored ingredients of the Problem Novel, adds a very large grain of salt and cooks them into a funny, and even inspirational, picaresque stew. In Robert Cormier's Problem Novel classic The Chocolate War (a book I greatly admire), the protagonist agonizes at great length, "Do I dare disturb the universe?" Robert Nifkin, if they met, would look at him, blink in confusion and say, "Of course. What the hell kind of universe would it be if you didn't?"

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To find out more about Joan Frances Turner, head to her website and check out trailer 1, trailer 2, and trailer 3 for DUST.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

I loved all of the Mortal Instruments books to death. I picked up City of Bones, not knowing what to expect, and got totally enchanted by a world of demonhunters and cocky, sarcastic characters. I read all three books with a hunger even zombies couldn't compare to. So when I got a copy of Clockwork Angel, I was a little beyond ecstatic.

Clockwork Angel takes place in the same world as the Mortal Instruments series, but it's a prequel of sorts. The main character, Tessa, is a Downworlder instead of a Shadowhunter, which obviously sets up a different plot. It was fun being in a familiar world but meeting new characters. There was something about diving back into the politics of Shadowhunters that was comfortable and refreshing.

There were some similarities I didn't care for, though: one of the characters had the same sarcasm as Jace, and I wanted something a little different. He was definitely a different person with an entirely different story, but yeah. I was looking for something more distinct; it can be excused, though, because Will is Jace's great-great-great something-or-other. They're related. Sarcasm must be in their genes.

Some of the new characters, though, I loved - silver-haired Jem, for instance, whose intelligence and musical ability kind of made me swoon. And Jessamine - I freakin' adored her. She was such a witch (the non-magical kind)! She hates being a Shadowhunter and I repeatedly wanted to punch her, but she was also strong in a time of crisis and continuously surprised me. And Henry, whose inventions always malfunctioned but who was well-meaning. And it was awesome seeing Magnus, one of my favorite characters from the Mortal Instruments series. I want to take these people out of the pages and hang out with them, although that might be a little frightening.

And I loved the setting for this one. Victorian England. Win. There was definitely a rainy, gloomy atmosphere; there was palpable history in the air. I could smell it. And the steampunk-esque creatures were hard.core. Gave me the willies.

I can't say I liked Clockwork Angel more than Mortal Instruments, but I definitely enjoyed it and I'm really interested in seeing what happens with the series.

And P.S. I don't usually talk about covers a lot in my reviews (they don't really have relevance to the writing/plot), but isn't this one HOT?

Jennifer Solow Guest Post

Jennifer Solow is the author of The Aristobrats, a new MG book about four loyal, fun friends. I read this one last week - a longer review will follow, but ultimately, I thought it was a fun, character-driven book that I read in a sitting. You can find out more about the book and the author here (and if you can find the diamond ring somewhere on Jennifer's website, you'll be directed to a secret page full of fun. Go Nancy-Drew it up, gals.) So, before I ramble some more, here's Jennifer Solow:

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Thanks for asking me to write about how I created the four main characters in The Aristobrats. I’d like to say creating my characters is something I totally do on purpose – like there’s some greater plan to it all. But usually the characters kind of find me. The sensible, good-writer part of my brain will say, “that’s not a likeable trait” or “there’s no way those two people would be friends” or “shouldn’t my main character be more heroic instead of just sitting on her butt on this one?” But that doesn’t seem to be how this writing thing works.

In The Aristobrats, I wanted to write about a group of four eighth grade girlfriends but I only really knew two things when I started: 1. I wanted their friendship to be undyingly loyal and 2. I was sick of Massie Block from The Clique books. (Mean girls are so two-thousand-and-late!)

The main character, Parker, got her name from Sarah Jessica Parker. I love the adult friendship in Sex in the City and wanted to keep reminding myself of that with Parker’s name. I also imagined Parker on the morning of first day of school, having taken hours to get ready, staring at her empty Status box on Facebook, obsessing over what to put in there (not that I ever do that or anything!). So that’s where she started – an actress’s last name and a Facebook status box.

Like Parker, Ikea started with a name. I just thought naming someone Ikea was funny. It’s a beautiful name and a furniture store! I had no idea that Ikea was going to be a total prepsicle (Madras plaid shorts, grosgrain ribbon watchbands, Lilly Pulitzer tops) or that she was obsessed with going to Yale, but most of all I had no idea Ikea was African American. She just turned around at La Coppa Coffee with Parker’s Mocha Mach in hand and there she was: an über-preppy, Yale-obsessed black girl in a monogrammed sweater and khaki Capris. Who knew?

Plum started out as a hair color. I’d just bought a jar of Manic Panic hair color at Ricky’s in Manhattan. It was this deep magenta shade. I gave my daughter a bright streak of it on one side. Then, if you can follow my train of thought here, I thought about Violet from The Incredibles. I love that character! So Plum started out as hair color + a cartoon character.

Kiki began with a closet. Mariah Carey’s closet to be exact. I’d just read about Mariah Carey’s 12,000 square foot, climate controlled, color-coordinated, event-coordinated, marble and gold shrine to diva-dom. OMGasp! I needed a guilty pleasure character, one I could turn to late in the afternoon when my blood sugar was low and I just needed a little pick-me-up. Like Mariah’s closet, Kiki is unabashedly self-absorbed, mega-wealthy, clothing-obsessed, ridiculously over-the-top, but really, really great to hang out around.

If you’re interested in finding out if you’re a “Parker,” an “Ikea,” a “Plum” or a “Kiki” take the quiz and find out.

Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

Cassie was told the story of the polar bear king when she was little, but she'd always thought it was a fairytale. That is, until she turns eighteen and he shows up claiming she's to marry him. He takes her to his icelandic castle, promising to free her mother (whose trapped in a troll castle, of course) if she becomes his bride.

I love fairy tale retellings. I'm a sucker for 'em. I read Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst for exactly the same reason. I think Ice was slightly better, but I wasn't die-hard in love with it. I mean, I absolutely adored the setting. The polar bear king's castle was awesome and reminded me of the ice hotel in Alaska (which I'm promising to myself I'll stay in one day.) It sounded beautiful and gave me a perfect picture of Cassie's surroundings.

But I read a book about this same North myth, called Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, and I enjoyed that one more. Everything about it seemed more mythological, which is why I love fairy tales in the first place. The idea that the polar bear king was actually a man cursed into his form didn't seem weird. It was the kind of thing you accepted because it's a fairy tale. But I feel like Ice tried to make it too logical - it just didn't have that same mythic touch in the first half of the book. But the second half, however, was much better than the first. I can't really go into detail without spoiling it, but it definitely picked up some of that mythic-ism that I love. I wanted to take the second half and turn it into one book. The intro just didn't grab me, which put me off. But in the end, I fell in love with some of the characters and new settings Cassie goes into.

If I wasn't comparing it to another retelling, I'd probably be more eager to praise it. But that's the problem with retellings: you're setting yourself up to be compared. You have to take the original and spin it into something familiar and new, which is a difficult task.

So I'm 60/40 on this one. I was neutral about the first half and really liked the second. There are elements of this tale that are fantastic and brilliant and amazing; especially the ending. It's just the matter of whether the ending is redeeming or not. For me, having a better second half is better than having a better first half, so I'm going with a more positive outlook. (The 60 part of 60/40 favors a thumbs-up.) I'd recommend reading it, yeah, but stick with it if you're not too keen on the beginning.

Author Review: Wendy Delsol reviews Hex Hall

Author Review is a feature where YA authors review YA books. Basically, it's to flip the tables and see what authors like to read by featuring one novel they've read and enjoyed. If you're an author who'd like to be featured, email me at thepageflipper@yahoo.com.

Today, I have Wendy Delsol, author of Stork, releasing October 2010 from Candlewick. From her website:

It is the story of smart and sassy Katla (Kat) Leblanc, a 16-year-old L.A. fashionista whose life is upended after a move to Norse Falls, Minnesota—her mother’s hometown of Icelandic heritage. As if being the new kid isn’t challenge enough, Kat is mysteriously drawn to an ancient order of bird women with the extraordinary task of soul delivery. Complicating things further is Jack Snjosson, an aloof classmate. Given their relationship’s rocky start, Kat would never believe they share a history—never mind destiny.

Everything below this linebreak are the words of Wendy Delsol.

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I just breezed my way through Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins and found it to be a captivating read.

First and foremost, I liked the main character Sophie Mercer’s voice and humor. She’s smart and wickedly wry. I definitely think Sophie and my own protag Katla could go barb for barb. At any rate, the book is funny, which gets big smiles from me.

The pacing of the plot is tight and kept me turning the page. Sophie is a witch whose prom-night fiasco of a spell gets her sent to Hex Hall, a paranormal reform school. There, she finds herself thrown into a student population made up of dark witches, gorgeous warlocks, faeries, and shapeshifters. If that weren’t freaky enough, her roommate is the most hated of all Prodigium: a vampire. When something sinister starts attacking students, Sophie must embrace both her powers and her ancestry in order to sort out foe from friend.

Hex Hall is a delightful romp that still manages to evoke a sense of mystery and danger. There is much left to tackle in its sequel, a release I look forward to.

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You can check out more about Wendy by heading to her website. And I second what she said about Hex Hall; it's a fantastic book, which I also reviewed here.

The Odyssey / Lit Class is Eating My Brain / Update / Rambling / This Title is Way Too Long

Warning: This post jumps around more than my nephew hyped on chocolate. Excuse me. I haven't posted in maybe five days (which I'll explain) so I'm a little blog-happy.

I didn't get a lot of reading done this past week because of one big tome I'm assigned to read: The Odyssey. My college lit class started a few weeks ago and this is the first book we're talking about.

It's interesting because I like mythology (which is another class I'm taking). It's interesting because it's one of the first written works ever recorded in the western civilization. It's interesting because...okay, it might stop there.

This book is huge and lengthy and repetitive. I love hearing about the gods and man-eating cyclops and Odysseus traveling to the underworld. But I've noticed that every little minor character barely even mentioned (and there's a lot of them) has to have their mother listed, as well as their sister and brother and father and entire backstory. And then you never hear about them again. So, obviously, my mind gets a little boggled. But the story ideas coming from this book are just whirring in my mind.

To pair up with The Odyssey, I rented Troy - because who doesn't love an excuse to look at Brad Pitt? It's a great movie, though.

But anyway, the reason I'm writing to tell you all this isn't because I want you to go read The Odyssey - although it does have some interesting elements. I'm writing this to tell you to go look at pictures of Brad Pitt from this movie because seriously. Just kidding. Maybe. Oh, also, Eric Bana. But, yeah.

I'm actually writing to tell you the reason I haven't posted about a ton of awesome literary things like : my book events, meeting authors, book club meetings, etc. Um, as well as a ton of reviews. I have a backlog. And new contests. Basically, I have a lot to do and I blame it fully on college and work and the five hours of sleep I get a night, if that.

But scheduling posts is a blessed thing. So I'm here to tell you about a new schedule I set up. I might vary from it, if my brain is on durrr mode from school/writing, or I have something dire I need to post, but here's what I'm gonna be scheduling from now on:

Monday: Review

Wednesday: Author Review

Thursday: Review

Saturday: Other (like literary updates, events I'm going to, theme posts, etc)

4 days a week. I'll be here. It's a date. You can also find me every Friday here.

The Short Second-Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

The Short Second-Life of Bree Tanner was a behind-the-scenes view of one of the minor characters in Eclipse. I thought it'd be interesting to see how Stephenie Meyer handled human-eating classic vampires, so I picked it up.

Hmm. It was mildly interesting. I'm going to review this without paying any attention to the popularity of the series and focus simply on the logistics.

The writing and plotting in Twilight, etc, wasn't fantastic. But I read through the series and enjoyed them any way. There's something about those books that's attention-grabbing, and there isn't much dispute on that. But I wasn't completely sold. When I read The Host, however, I absolutely loved it. I thought she improved a lot as a writer and storyteller and something in that book struck a chord with me. I decided I'd read whatever Meyer had published because there was an exploration of humanity in that book that really hit home.

I wondered if that view on humanity would shift when she wrote about killers.

Bree Tanner wasn't a fantastic character, but she had a tiny bit of depth. Diego, the vampire she starts to fall for, had about the same amount of depth. Together, they created a character, but separately they weren't very interesting. Their witty repertoire was what held the book, but we only got a few scenes of that before we were thrown into something else.

The book did show some darkness, but definitely not enough. There's a scene where the vampires feast on a cruise ship that particularly sticks out to me, but it could have gone deeper. There was also some talk of loss-of-limbs, which made me happy. Pretend that doesn't sound as sick as it does. I'm not sure how romanticism fits in here, but it was attempted with Bree and Diego.

The one character that I found the most interesting was a side character: Fred. He could repel people of his own will and seemed to actually have some semblance of intelligence. He stuck out to me a lot more than any of the other characters or scenes in this book. If SMeyer wrote a companion with him in it, I'd definitely check it out.

It was a light (something I wasn't hoping for), quick read. Gave you a little more info and a new perspective on the Twilight world. I semi-enjoyed it while I was reading it, but it doesn't leave a whole lot of emotional feeling towards it. I'm neutral on this one. I love when books show different perspectives and glimpses about secondary characters, etc, but I felt like this one could have been executed better. I'd really like to see Meyer extend from the whole Twilight franchise and explore something else, like she did with The Host.

Author Review: Beth Revis Reviews Lips Touch

Beth Revis wrote her first books as a student in classrooms, when the professors at NC State University did not hold her interest and she jotted down stories instead of taking notes. Currently a teacher herself, Beth tries to make her classes a bit more entertaining as she explores Greek gods, samurais, and epic poetry with her high school World Literature students. In addition to pointing out dramatic irony in Oedipus Rex to a gaggle of sixteen-year-olds, Beth also writes science fiction and fantasy novels for teens. Her debut novel, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, will be published by Razorbill/Penguin in Spring 2011. Beth is represented by Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House.

I totally stole that bio from her website, where you can check out more info on Beth and her writing. After reading that, how can you not want Beth as a teacher?

She's here today to take part in my Author Review feature, where YA authors review a YA book of their choosing. Any interested authors can feel free to email me.

Everything below this linebreak are the words of Beth Revis.

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Lips Touch by Laina Taylor

Up until last year, I was a high school world literature teacher. Every semester, I forced my students to watch SCHINDLER’S LIST. Most of them had never heard of the movie—after all, for the past few years, the movie came out before they were born (feel old yet?). When I told them it was black and white, about three hours long, and the movie doesn’t show violence for the first hour, they groaned in disappointment.

Then they saw it.

Usually within the first half hour, every kid is on the edge of his seat. By the end, it’s not unusual for some of them to cry. Every semester, some kids went out and purchased the DVD. Most said it was the favorite thing they did all semester.

I liken my students’ experiences with SCHINDLER’S LIST to my experience with LIPS TOUCH: THREE TIMES by Laini Taylor.

Like my students, I thought I would hate it. The cover looked classy—which translated to “boring” in my mind. The much-hyped illustrations were two-toned (like the black-and-white SCHINDLER’S LIST), and the triumvirate of stories seemed long (like the three hour movie).

And, like my students, after the first story, I was on the edge of my seat. By the end, I was crying. After, I went out and bought extra copies to give to friends. It’s been one of my favorite books I’ve read all year.

What makes this book awesome? It’s a combination of several things. First, the stories are just…delicious. The first story, “Goblin’s Fruit,” follows Kizzy, a girl who knows there is danger, and who just doesn’t care. It’s rare for me to like a character who disregards warnings, but in this case…I sort of wanted her to taste that forbidden fruit.

Then there’s “Spicy Little Curses Such as These,” which has one of the best titles ever written. I loved the exotic Indian setting, but more than that I loved the dilemma the side character, Anamique, was faced with. It’s rare for me to like a side character more than a main character, but I was fascinated with the problem presented to her, and the way in which she dealt with it.

LIPS TOUCH concludes with “Hatchling,” the longest of the stories. “Hatchling” wandered around, meandered over flashbacks and histories and magic and religion. There are eyes changing colors (and being plucked out), a controlling and abusive Queen, and so many layers that you have to peel them back like the skin of an orange. It’s rare for me to like a story just because it’s beautifully written…but, well, I think you’ve figured out by now how rare of a book LIPS TOUCH really is.

This review would be remiss if I didn’t mention the illustrations. Because no matter how good the stories were…the illustrations made them better. It took me awhile to figure out the connection the illustrations had to the stories (much like it takes my students time to discover the importance of color in SCHINDER’S LIST). The stories are framed by the illustrations—rather than telling the backstory, it’s drawn. Even sweeter, though, is the final drawing at the end of each story. Laini ends the stories on a lyrical note—the final illustration draws that note out into a crescendo and then silence.

The kind of silence you hear at the end of a really good movie, when every student sits back in his or her desk and sighs.