A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

This was a great start to a series I'm sure will be a hit.

Eden is introduced to an entirely new world when she falls for someone with wings. That would sound unoriginal if I stopped there, but there is a heck of a lot more to this world than hot angels. There's this thing called Touch, which you'll have to find out about yourself. And there's a social society of half-dead people unlike any you've met in a book before. And there's danger.

The worldbuilding was both fantastic and confusing. You jump into this new, unique world without a clue of what's going on but are given glimpses that are completely foreign to you. On one hand, I like that there isn't 100 pages worth of buildup, as a lot of paranormal books contain, but on the other, it was also confusing for the first couple chapters. Once you understand what's going on, however, it's absolutely intriguing. It reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Wrist Cutters: A Love Story, which I loved because of the irony of the world it creates and for a different perspective on life, which I think this book also accomplishes. A Touch Mortal takes place in our world, but it has this underlining secret layer that only few are privy to. It delves into deep issues, like suicide, but it's not an "issue book." It's a book you can enjoy for the story and for the emotions it makes you feel.

The dialogue is absolutely fantastic. I could imagine each of the characters speaking the words written, which brought really vivid scenes to my mind. It's just one of those books you can see, you know? Where the details and the characters and the setting and the imagery all add up to this real-life image in your mind.

And speaking of characters, I can't say enough fun, amazing things about Kristen, my favorite. She's a schizophrenic chick who hosts all-out gothic victorian balls. She's way too interesting and I love her. Eden, although I didn't connect with her as much, was still a character I could sympathize with. One thing I really liked about her was that she wasn't predictable. At all. One moment she'd be strong and the next she'd be weak. She was real that way. And Gabe and Libby and Jarrod and Az? The side characters? They're all a cast of awesome. Not one of them falls flat.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am very excited to read the sequel. There's a lot of detail and emotion in it that just hits you. It's a story that's going to stick with me for a very, very long time. Look out for this one.

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, those of you who celebrate. Although I'm not inclined to celebrate the actual history of it, (which is that Native Americans invited new colonists to feast with them and were repaid by being brutally murdered) I'm inclined to celebrate the idea of thanks and family and food.

So I wanted to say thanks to those of you who read the written form of whatever's in my crazy mind. IE, these blog posts. And I wanted to thank authors for writing books because my mind would be even more insane without them. And I wanted to thank faux leather jackets for being awesome. And I wanted to thank musicians for contributing to my madness. And I wanted to thank that madness in my brain for being able to translate it to words and then to my keyboard, even though it sometimes doesn't make sense. And I wanted to thank the sun and the earth for revolving. You're doing an awesome job; keep it up!

There's a hell of a lot to be thankful for. Not just books and writers, but family and friends and warm coffee and the smell of snow and the color of leaves. So, thanks. Read a good book and visit your family and just enjoy it today.

What are you thankful for?

2011 Debut Author Challenge

This challenge, hosted by The Story Siren, doesn't officially start until January, but I figured I'd go ahead and make my post accepting the challenge. You can read the original challenge post by clicking: here. The books I plan to read:

Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey

The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker

Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris

Wildefire by Karston Knight

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

Choker by Elizabeth Woods

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand

Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell

ARCs I've read already that don't count towards my challenge, but which I'd recommend:

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

Angelfire by Courtney Moulton

I'll probably make additions to this list, since I'm pretty sure I'll read more than these 12, but these are the ones I'm absolutely signing up for.

What are you planning on reading or looking forward to reading in 2011?

The Aristobrats by Jennifer Solow

The Aristobrats sounds a lot like the Clique series at first: the focus is on middle school popularity, fashion, and a group of friends. But while the premise has comparisons, the writing, language, and friendships are a lot different.

This had a lot more substance than the premise shows. The writing is great and the humor really evident in the voices' of the characters. I don't read a lot of MG, but when I heard about the unbreakable friendship of the main characters, I thought I'd give it a try. It turned out to be a fast, quick read that I enjoyed and would probably recommend to MG readers.

It was a mix of light and depth. The popularity thing was always a big deal in my middle schools, and I went to a couple. And it's actually not as huge of a trend in books as you would think it would be. Books like How Not to Be Popular by Jennifer Ziegler or How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot take a spin on it and shed some light on the issue from a high school perspective, but the only big books I've seen in middle grade (and I'm sure there are more that I'm not thinking of, because I'm not a huge MG expert) that deal with popularity are books like The Clique series. And I feel like this goes a little deeper into the characters, flips "popularity" on it's head and shows how a group of friends deal with it.

I think it's a great book for MG readers. Also, Class Favorite by Taylor Morris is worth a read, which deals with a similar popularity issue.

Contests & Other Random Stuff/Updates

This is a post to say I miss the book community to death but I don't have the time to write a review right now, so! Updates!

The winner of October's contest for $80 worth of books has been picked: Linda H! Linda, you have an email!

I'm going to have to hold off on monthly contests for a while because of my budget and schedule, but I'll still be having contests irregularly & these monthly ones will eventually be back (assuming I'll be less of a poor college student eventually.) :)

On the bright side, I have good freaking news: Marni Bates, who wrote one of the Louder than Words books (Marni), just got a 3-book deal with Kensington's teen imprint. I can't even begin to describe HOW AWESOME this is. She's a really talented writer and awesome person and I can't wait to see how she writes fiction. So look out for her books in the next few years.

There's also a new auction up over at Leave a Mark: you get awesome books marked up by awesome authors and all the proceeds go to a great organization, so make sure you keep watch!

I'm still working on gathering authors for Author Review, but expect to see it back SOON.

Um, 2010 is almost over. How the heck did that happen?

WHAT ARE YOU GUYS READING? Let me know in the comments so we can chat! I'm off to discuss The Canterbury Tales (which I totally sparknoted (can we make that a verb?) because I didn't have the time to read it. shhh, I'm a bad student.) So please tell me what awesome books you guys are reading so I can live vicariously through you.

Want to win an awesome book?

Leah Clifford, author of A Touch Mortal, (which is, by the way, a fantastic book) is giving away not only a SIGNED copy of one of her limited, rare, golden-dipped ARCs, but is also letting you name a character in book two AND get in the acknowledgments. Pretty awesome, right?

Enter by watching this video, spreading the word, and recommending a guy's name. Easy entry for an awesometastic prize.

You should also watch the rest of the YA Rebel's videos: their topic for the week is SIN. What's more fun than YA authors talking about sin? (Besides YA authors impersonating each other?) I think the only answer to that is: me. And maybe these people. But that's it.

White Cat by Holly Black

This is one of the best fantasy books I've read in a long, long time. The plot sounded really interesting and Holly Black is highly acclaimed, but for some reason I didn't have high expectations. I will for the sequel.

Something about this world was very interesting. The idea of powers or abilities isn't very original, but the way Black spins it, it is. Curse Workers have the ability to impede luck, alter your emotions, erase your memories, and other more unsavory things, just by giving you a light tappytap. Everyone in this society wears gloves as a kind of trust issue, no one knowing the capabilities of strangers.

Just...words can't describe how awesome I think this is. The entire society has this underlying desperation to it. There's a whole underground mobster scene attached to these curse workers, which is freaking amazing. Because, honestly, if society started gaining power, it would crave more. Not just because of the taste of it, but because of the fear of it. Power is afraid of power, and so anyone with any kind of power instantly wants to be more powerful. It's just a really realistic, edgy thing to add to a supernatural book. And the plotting is pretty phenomenal. I didn't want to set the book down on any single page.

Oh, and the writing? Simple, but it flowed. There's a dark, scary genius behind these words.

Sookie Stackhouse: Books vs. Show

I originally wasn't going to review these books because they're adult instead of YA, but True Blood's a popular show and I love comparing books to their movie/tv versions.

I can't say whether I like the books or the show better. I've read the first three so far and I enjoyed them, but the books don't have the visual of Eric Northman (although I definitely imagined the same actor while I was reading the books, because whew.) Also, Alcide. There's a lot of mancandy in the show, although I'm not a huge fan of the Bill they picked. And I'm actually not huge on his character in general, either. He never really struck me. I think Sookie's a great MC; she's strong and a lot smarter than she looks, and she adapts to things well. Which is something you need in a character when a plot is as crazy as this one.

The books and show follow a similar plot, but there are some pretty big differences. I generally like to read books before I see the visual representation, but I did the reverse with this one. I think one of the main reasons I liked the show so much is because every single episode leaves you with a Mt Everest-sized cliffhanger and it's kind of impossible not to crave the next one. But I honestly can't say what makes this show or these books appealing. There's nothing unnaturally original about them, but it also doesn't hold back on gore or horror, alongside the romance. And I love a good horror book, so maybe that's part of the appeal.

A certain twist adapted in the latest season (and one I haven't gotten to in the books yet) was kind of lame, though. It happens to a lot of series: when they go on for a little too long, something new has to happen. And sometimes, that something new is very questionmarkable. I'm not sure if I'll continue to watch/read as religiously as I had previously, but I'll probably give them an eventual checkback.

Have you guys seen the show or read the books? They're not really appropriate for anyone under the age of, maybe, 16? 18? (I'm horrible with judging maturity levels.) So I'm not recommending it to any preteens, but I think it's interesting, especially in comparison to the YA paranormal market now. Thoughts?

The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

FYI, my feature Author Review is on hold while I gather authors. It'll be back soon.

Now back to booktalk. The Mockingbirds is about a girl, Alex, who starts out the book by waking up in a guys room. A guy, apparently, who date raped her. She brings her case to The Mockingbirds, the school's court system, organized by the students. They're also the ones who deal out punishments.

I thought this was a very well-written book. The opening shocked me, and the plot, while in a form has been done before, was very original in it's differences.

It's being compared to Speak, which to me is an unfair comparison because Laurie Halse Anderson is a goddess, but I think the only comparison is, really, the issue of rape. They're both very different situations and characters, but they're also both very important stories.

Speak relations aside, The Mockingbirds had a strong setting. One thing I liked and didn't like was the society of the Mockingbirds itself. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all-time favorite classics, up there with The Secret Garden. It's a beautiful book and the modern references to it in The Mockingbirds was awesome, so it automatically earned brownie points with me.

The idea of a school court system - one run by students - is interesting but almost overshadowed Alex and her problems. I liked both plots separately, but wish they had meshed together more.

That said, this is a fantastic book written with tight, powerful writing. I'd definitely recommend it and think it holds a lot of depth in its pages.

To NaNo or Not to NaNo?

Excuse me for the uberly cheesy blog title here, and for a writing post instead of a review. But I have a dilemma and I wanted your advice on it.

I love NaNoWriMo. You write 50,000 words in one month. It's insane. And I love insanity! I think it's a brilliant idea and it creates an awesome community. You have writing buddies to cheer you on and compete with, pushing you to finish. You're totally engrossed in one book for 30 days. You write and write and write. And I want to do it.

I promised myself I would if I could finish my WIP by the end of November. But I got stuck at 20k, which is my usual sticking point. I can generally push my way through after a break and a fresh mind, but it's very, very frustrating.

And I want to do NaNo. It's day one, so I'll be coming in late if I do decide to do it. I've had this book idea at the back of my mind for a long time, but I haven't plotted much yet, so it'll be a rough starting patch, but doable.

The WIP I'm working on now has A LOT of worldbuilding, and I'm completely IN that world right now, which is what I'm mainly worried about. If I close the door for a month, will I be able to come back into it with a fresher mind? Or will I be lost to it?

Basically, it's impossible to make this decision on my own. Help? I'll be hanging out in the comments.