The Book Rat

CHOICE & CONSEQUENCE - guest post from Jeff Norton, author of MetaWars

2013-05-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

Last year, I had a guest post about the importance of strong female characters in "books for boys" (and I know all of you out there are giving "amen"s and "hell yes"es). That post came from Jeff Norton, author of the dystopic thriller series, MetaWars, and Jeff is back again this year, in time for the recent release of MetaWars: Battle of the Immortal; this time, he's taking on the importance of choice - and the sometimes troubling consequences attached...
Check it out, and leave us your thoughts in the comments!

Choice & Consequence

By Jeff Norton

I’m fascinated by the intersection of technology and morality. There is a moral dimension to almost every innovation, from harnessing fire to the iPad. Just because we can create something, does it mean that we should?
I wrote the MetaWars books to explore the smash up between speculative technology and human morality. On the surface, the stories are fast-paced action thrillers; but they raise challenging and uncomfortable questions. One of the questions I pose is: how far would you go for love?

My two main protagonists are naïve and sheltered Jonah and worldly assassin Samantha (Sam). They begin as enemies and become best friends. Of course, underneath that friendship is a growing love that neither character can quite name. And that love faces the toughest of obstacles: death.

But what if death could be digitised?

I based everything in the books on real, if nascent, science and research. I’ve extrapolated real science of memory mapping and brain digitisation to construct a story world where we can upload ourselves to the Internet – to achieve a digital immortality. Think: living forever as your Moshi Monster or World of Warcraft avatar.

The MetaWars books are about choice and consequences. At the end of Book 1, Jonah Delacroix makes a desperate bid to save the “lives” of these digital immortals, including his dead father. That decision literally comes back to haunt him when the newly conscious dead yearn to be alive again. They begin usurping the bodies of the living – starting with Sam. Now Jonah faces the ultimate choice between saving the person he loves and holding onto his only “living” family member.

It’s a harrowing choice and I challenge the reader to ask what they would do. There are no easy answers, and everyone has a different moral code. That’s what makes speculative storytelling so exciting.

Jeff Norton is the author of the MetaWars saga. The third book publishes May, 2013 from Orchard Books. He can be found at www.jeffnorton.com and tweeting at @thejeffnorton.

Book Chat: Obligatory & Required Reads

2013-05-17T18:04:00.000-04:00

Inspired by this month's Time-Crunch TBR (and by a question I get asked a lot in the comments and on twitter), I thought we'd use this month's Book Chat to talk about Obligatory/Required Reading.
Feel free to chime in in the comments, create your own video and leave it as a response, or link up vlog and/or blog posts below!

And if you have thoughts or a desired topic for a future book chat, let me know in the comments!
Thanks for watching!

Friday Face Off: Kinslayer

2013-05-17T14:14:00.001-04:00

The covers for the second book in the Lotus War series, Kinslayer, were released this week (along with many a giveaway), and since we had a pretty lively discussion about the different versions of Stormdancer, I figured we should probably continue the tradition with Kinslayer.
Below are the US and UK/AUS versions of the book. They follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, with a strong, bold, fierce Jason Chan-designed piece of art on the US, and a more cool, calculating, muted design on the UK/AUS version. As before, there are elements I really like in both, so I'm curious to see which you guys would rush to pick up (if either). So tell us in the comments, which grabs your interest? Which would you want on your shelves?

Which one did it better?

Last Week(ish) on FFO: I once again forgot to post FFO last week (I was out of town much of the week, so my brain was gone), but the week before, we had a Face Off between the original and updated covers of Elizabeth Eulberg's Take a Bow; though we all sort of have the feeling that the updated cover is probably more true to the book (the original looks rather drama-y, and not so much rock star-y...), that didn't stop the majority of you from choosing the original. And I can't blame you - it's so pretty!
Winner ------>

ALL THAT JAZZ ~ guest post from Janet Fox, author of SIRENS

2013-05-16T00:00:00.000-04:00

You guys.
I don't know if I mentioned in my Book Chat on Buzzwords and Deal Breakers that anything associated with the '20s is totally buzzworthy to me. Any combination of the words "flappers," "roaring," "speakeasy" (and any of the associated vernacular), "jazz age", and "art deco" just does something to my brain. I have not one, but two flapper costumes in my closet. Many a feathered fascinator has graced my head.

There were better examples of jazz hands gifs.

I have no regrets.

It all makes me quite grabby hands.
Jazzy hands?

Whatever, the point is, it doesn't take much to convince me to take part in some flapper-ish loving.

So today, as part of the blog tour for Sirens, Janet Fox, author of the '20slicious Faithful series, has stopped by to chat about the Jazz Age - and give you guys a chance to win a copy of Sirens and some swag!

Jazz was a big part of the scene in the 1920s, especially in New York City. In SIRENS Jo Winter falls for sweet jazz musician Charlie, who moonlights as a waiter at the Algonquin Hotel. The music revolution of “the Jazz Age” is a backdrop to the Roaring Twenties and the novel.

By 1920 jazz as a musical form had already been developing for some time in the tenderloin district of New Orleans. Born as a hybrid of slave blues, West Indies calypso, ragtime, Negro spirituals, and marching brass bands, jazz was picked up by talented young artists like Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith and Jelly Roll Morton, and transported to Al Capone’s Chicago.

Jazz infused an intense energy into the music scene; artists like Armstrong had no professional training but learned to play by ear, and improvised and collaborated with other artists. This spontaneity and creativity, and the fact that many of the talents were black, lent jazz a Bohemian aspect.

Capone owned many Chicago speakeasy clubs and he enthusiastically attended performances by these jazz musicians, supporting them financially. Jazz spread as artists picked it up and writers and poets (like Langston Hughes) found rhythm to underscore their work, and New York’s underground nightclubs – especially those up in Harlem – became renowned havens of music patrons.

Dances like the Cakewalk, Black Bottom, the Monkey Glide, and, of course, the Charleston were considered decadent and sensational – which therefore made them wildly appealing to the young white crowd that frequented the clubs. The exoticism of cavorting in a club where the musicians were black made for an even edgier appeal. Jazz was a symbol of creativity and freedom in a decade when both were emerging from the repressive decades of wartime and Victorian propriety.

Radio and the phonograph were central to bringing jazz from nightclubs into every home, but especially in the big cities. In New York one could find a radio station broadcasting black musicians playing jazz – rare in other parts of the country.

Pictorial depictions of flappers and swells dancing the Charleston were popular covers on magazines and further served to spread the influence of the dances and the music.

Langston Hughes wrote, “The rhythm of life/is a jazz rhythm/Honey,” and his words epitomized his time.

****GIVEAWAY****
Love the Jazz Age as much as I do? Enter to win one of a bajillion (rough estimate) copies of Sirens and some awesome swag! It's the cat's pajamas.
Just fill out the Rafflecopter below! US only, must be at least 13. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And make sure to check out the rest of the participating blogs on the tour - they're the bees knees!
8th @ Alice Marvel
9th @ The Mod Podge Bookshelf
10th @ Rebecca's Book Blog
11th @ Chapter By Chapter
12th @ ReadingTeen
13th @ Little Library Muse
14th @ Mundie Moms
15th @ Fire & Ice
16th @ The Book Rat
17th @ Pieces of Whimsy

And look! A trailer! It's the ....something else that sounds very Flapper-speak... ;P

GIVEAWAY: The Lovecraft Middle School series!

2013-05-15T17:35:00.000-04:00

You guys may have seen me talk in a couple of recent videos about receiving the Lovecraft Middle School series from Quirk books, and how I love the design of the books, and think it's something that would have been right up my alley when I was a middle grader.
Though I may not have time to dive into these quirky (see what I did there?) little books at the moment, that doesn't mean I can't share them with you guys, right?
That's what I thought, too. SO.

THESE COVERS, YOU GUYS. These covers are made of awesome. What's shown above is just one level of the cover, because they have these awesome overlays. The spiel is that "Every volume in the Lovecraft Middle School series is fully illustrated and features an original lenticular portrait on the cover. Display them on bookshelves—and then watch the cover characters morph into monsters as you pass by!" and for serious, they look so cool and seamless!

Super cool posters, y'all!

****GIVEAWAY****
Thanks to Quirk Books, I have copies of the first 3 books in the Lovecraft Middle School series (Professor Gargoyle, The Slither Sisters and Teacher's Pest), posters and bookmarks to give away! To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter below, and I'd love to know in the comments if you're entering for yourself, your students/children, etc. (Doesn't have an impact on who wins, I'm just ~~nosy~~ curious!)
This is open to residents of US, UK and CAN, and runs through May 23, 2013.
Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

April Rewind: Mini-Reviews of my April reads!

2013-05-13T22:31:00.002-04:00

So this is up SUPER late, but here is what I thought of what I read in April. A few of these that I was in the middle of have since been finished (and the reviews will be up soon!).
Let me know what you think of the books I read (or started, at least), how you April went, and what's next on your stack in the comments!

THORN ABBEY by Nancy Ohlin Blog Tour: Excerpt & Giveaway

2013-05-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

During Fairy Tale Fortnight, I had an interview with Nancy Ohlin about her fairy tale retelling, Beauty. In that interview, we also chatted a bit about another retelling she had coming out called Thorn Abbey - this time of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. I think a lot of us had our interest piqued by that, so of course I'm super happy to be sharing an excerpt of Thorn Abbey with you today as part of the blog tour!
Check it out:

I am walking down the path, the one that winds through the woods by Thorn Abbey and leads down to the beach. The air is cool and wet with rain, and my footsteps are light on the carpet of brown fallen leaves as I hurry down to the place where I know he is waiting for me. My cheeks are cold, and my heavy wool sweater scratches against my skin, but I don't care, because I can already feel his strong arms around my body and his warm lips against mine.

And then I am at the bottom of the hill. The beach rises above the horizon, endless and gray. Suddenly I feel exposed. Frightened. The air is different here: bigger, less forgiving. It smells like the sea and salt and dead things.

I move closer to the water. A wave rushes up to my boots and then snakes away, leaving two identical dark stains. I shudder against the chill and look around. Where is he, and why is he late?

Another wave comes up, more imposing than the last, and I step back. But the wave doesn't retreat. It keeps rising toward me, not cresting or breaking. I cry out and stumble backward. The wave grows larger, and more menacing, finally overtaking me and sucking me into it's icy deep.

Hands, fingers, hair. Her hands, her fingers, her hair. They wrap around me, colder than death, and pull me under as I scream. Her face- her beautiful, perfect face that he loved with a passion he will never feel for me - is the last thing I see as my lungs fill with the brackish water and I black out into the nothingness, still calling out his name in vain.

I KNOW, RIGHT?
Awesome.

And now, because I know you want to get your hands on this book after that^ (if you didn't already after my FTF interview with Nancy!), here's your chance to win it! Just fill out the Rafflecopter! Thanks to Simon & Schuster, Nancy Ohlin, and Mundie Moms for organizing the tour. =)
Make sure you stop by the rest of the tour stops for other awesome tidbits!

PLEASE do not leave any sensitive info or email addresses in the comments!

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Thorn Abbey by Nancy Ohlin
Get It | Add It
Contemporary/Thriller/Retelling, 304 pages
Published May 7th 2013 by Simon Pulse

Nothing is as it seems in this darkly romantic tale of infatuation and possession, inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.

Becca was the perfect girlfriend: smart, gorgeous, and loved by everyone at New England’s premier boarding school, Thorn Abbey. But Becca’s dead. And her boyfriend, Max, can’t get over his loss.

Then Tess transfers to Thorn Abbey. She’s shy, insecure, and ordinary—everything that Becca wasn’t. And despite her roommate’s warnings, she falls for brooding Max.

Now Max finally has a reason to move on. Except it won’t be easy. Because Becca may be gone, but she’s not quite ready to let him go…

Dark Days of Summer

2013-05-08T18:42:00.006-04:00

The teaser trailer for this summer's Dark Days of Summer campaign was realized a week or so ago, and in case you haven't seen it, I thought I'd share.
If you're unfamiliar, Dark Days of Summer is a yearly summer reading campaign from Harper Teen's "Pitch Dark" line-up (aka their hot supernatural books); along with a big awesome summer reading push to get your summer started, they have a Dark Days of Summer tour, which is currently going on (and though it's coming to MI, I'm going to be working my ass off catering to crazy scrapbooking ladies (long story), so I'm going to have to miss it - have fun for me if you go!).
You can find out more about the books and the tour here, but until you do, check out the teaser trailer below and let me know which one you're most eager for.
Personally, they all sound amazing, but I neeeeeed Reboot in my life.

The books, yo!

Guest Post & Giveaway: Prudence Shen, author of NOTHING CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG!

2013-05-06T00:00:00.000-04:00

You may have seen me posting on Twitter or Facebook in the last couple of days about my current read, Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong. (And if you haven't, well than clearly you're not stalking me hard enough...)
Either way, I am currently reading and loving this, which makes me super-geeked to welcome Prudence Shen, one of the awesome minds behind the book! (The other being Faith Erin Hicks, who brought her awesome art style to the story - you may remember me fangirling a bit over her art when I read Friends with Boys...)
Prudence is going to chat with us about her unexpected road to the publication of Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, and soon I'm going to chat with you about why I think you should pick it up! And in between (aka at the end of this post) First Second Books is giving you a chance to win a copy!
So many exclamation points!

!!

Somewhere on my computer hard drive is the beginnings of a profoundly terrible spec script for Leverage.

In case you've never seen the show, firstly, you should, and secondly, you should know it's about a bunch of thieves and con men who decide to leverage their particular skill sets to help people getting screwed by corporate America and other sundry villains. One of my best friends is an adept and fabulous storyteller and a screenwriter by preferred trade; she also once had an episode that convinced her I could be taught to ride that particular rodeo bronco.

The act of writing a script is the art of having sufficient emotional detachment to let other people dabble in the flawless brilliance of your idea. No matter how bad your writing actually is, like Kiera Knightly in Love Actually, to you, your story is perfect. My attempt at writing a script for Leverage was so hilariously neurotic, I had roughly two scenes, maybe three dialog exchanges, and the rest of the 20-odd pages were scene descriptions. My friend, after seeing this, had to admit defeat, and pleased with my incompetence, I put the spec to bed. Forever.

Letting other people get their fingers into your universe is a fraught and emotionally complex experience, and handing off my novel -- then a prose manuscript titled Voted Most Likely -- to be adapted into a graphic novel was hard. This was literal years ago, before we'd identified an artist for the comic and just after my agent had called me to explain First Second's interest, their plans. I remember standing in the sweeping hallway of my then-office on my cell phone feeling like a fist had closed over my windpipe.

Was I happy? Of course. I'd scammed someone into buying my book! Was this good news? Obviously, ibid. Did I want to move forward? Saying no to this sort of opportunity is ridiculous.

Even then, my visual imagination was filling in blanks: the story that eventually became Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong was always an active, farcical romp through suburbia. There were robot battles and basketball games, it would make for a fun story to look at in addition to a fun story to read.

But there's a big different in the academic exercise of imagining someone taking a pass at your story and actually having it happen.

I think it's a common experience of every writer to want to track down their bad reviewers, their readers who got it wrong, and to explain themselves, to point out this passage or that imagery and say, "See? Do you get it now? Hey, stop running away this is important!" That's as constant as the rate of gravity or my ability to be attracted to the biggest douchebag in any given group of people, and it gnawed at me as First Second talked about which adapters they were reaching out to, after we lucked out with Faith's marvelously funny art, as we waited for the condensed plot, the script, the graphic novel pages.

There was a lot of nail biting and anxiety on my end, fretting over what someone would do with my novel. Would they understand the essential melancholy at the heart of Charlie? Would they be able to depict it in images the way I hoped I'd managed to get it across in words? What about Nate, and his bombastic pursuit of his goals -- would that come off as grudgingly charming, or completely obnoxious?

But it boils down to trusting that your story got the message across, or some piece of that message. I fully believe that once you've dotted your last I and crossed your last T, the author is dead, and all your protestations otherwise are futile. Everybody brings their own experiences and biases to their media consumption, and everybody's version of a novel is different. One time I met a guy who thought The Scarlet Letter was about puritanical views on adultery; obviously that book is about rendering supernatural the concept of female agency. Despite what your high school English teachers may have written in the margins of your more creative (read: desperate) papers, both interpretations are true -- not because it's what Hawthorne wanted us to get out of the novel, but it's what we actually took away.

Lucky for Faith, by the time she was fully on board and we were looking at the adaptation, I'd talked myself off the ledge, fever breaking with a simple realization:

It is incredibly cool to see another person's interpretation of your work.

We may love our writing, but we can only ever know it in a vacuum. It's very improbable that someone will delve into its characters, its plots with anything like the thoughtfulness and time that went into its creation. As Voted Most Likely was transmogrified into Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, I was one of the rare, lucky ones to see what was most enduring about the story. It turned out to be some stuff I expected (one liners! robots!) and some things I didn't (the quietness of Nate and Charlie's friendship, their very understated support of one another). It was a privilege to know what had resonated with Faith, what had been hidden between the lines.

So was it nerve-wracking to have the novel adapted to a comic? Immensely. But it was hugely interesting and very cool, too. Plus, since I wasn't the one giving myself carpal tunnel drawing battlebot scenes, it was only upside for me.

I hope you like the book; I hope you like Faith's wonderful drawings and very cool interpretations of the characters. But far more than any of that, I hope you read it so you can get your own take, so that -- sometime very soon -- I will be seized with anxiety that someone is getting it wrong and not even know why.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks
Get It | Add It
Contemporary/Graphic Novel, 288 pages
Expected publication: May 7th 2013 by First Second

You wouldn’t expect Nate and Charlie to be friends. Charlie’s the laid-back captain of the basketball team, and Nate is the neurotic, scheming president of the robotics club. But they are friends, however unlikely—until Nate declares war on the cheerleaders. At stake is funding that will either cover a robotics competition or new cheerleading uniforms—but not both.

It's only going to get worse: after both parties are stripped of their funding on grounds of abominable misbehavior, Nate enrolls the club's robot in a battlebot competition in a desperate bid for prize money. Bad sportsmanship? Sure. Chainsaws? Why not. Running away from home on Thanksgiving to illicitly enter a televised robot death match? Of course!

In Faith Erin Hicks' and Prudence Shen's world of high school class warfare and robot death matches, Nothing can possibly go wrong.

****GIVEAWAY****
The awesome folks* at First Second Books have offered up a copy of Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong to one lucky winner from the US, CAN or the UK! To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter below. Giveaway ends May 14th, 2013 at 12am EST.
PLEASE do not leave any sensitive info or email addresses in the comments - these entries will be deleted!
Good luck, and don't forget to leave some love for Pru & Faith!!

*aka Gina - thanks, Gina!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday Face Off: Take A Bow

2013-05-03T13:36:00.000-04:00

You guys, I have legit had this Face Off sitting in draft since like early February. Clearly, it's time to share with the class.
I've had a copy of Elizabeth Eulberg's Take a Bow sitting on my shelves for some time now, and the fact that I haven't had time to work it in makes me kinda sad, because I know it will be quick, and I definitely enjoyed Eulberg's Prom & Prejudice. (I know, me and a Jane Austen retelling, who'dve guessed?) In February (hence the draft), the paperback was released with a revamped cover. I have to say, I think both are cute - and they give off totally different vibes - and while I think maybe the paperback will appeal to a wider audience, the soft glow of the hardcover is just so gorgeous in person.
But what do you guys think? Which would you reach for, and if you've read it, which one suits?

Which one did it better?

Last Week on FFO: The US hardcover and paperback looks for Brenna Yovanoff's fantastic The Space Between went head to head, and though it was closer than I thought it'd be, the gorgeous, scrollwork-laced, richly detailed original was the winner. But no matter the cover (or title, as it's called "Smoulder" in the UK), you should definitely pick this one up.

Winner -------->

May TBR

2013-05-02T21:14:00.002-04:00

Here's is my May TBR (sort of, maybe), and I really, REALLY don't know how I'm going to get through this month. Time-turner, please? Anyone?!

(I totally forgot to mention The Resurrectionist!)

(Oh, and - +1 more book = whatever you choose from this month's So5! http://youtu.be/Pw5kvSy0M68)

THE BOOKS:
(apt to change as needed, or as I slowly lose my mind...)
The Savage Blue | Zoraida Cordova
Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong | Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks
The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle | Christopher Healy
Jerusalem | Nick Bertozzi & Boaz Yakin
Fractured | Teri Terry
First Impressions | Alexa Adams
The Resurrectionist | EB Hudspeth

Maybes:
Wednesdays in the Tower | Jessica Day George
A Matter of Days | Amber Kizer
Boy Nobody | Allen Zadoff
Beauty | Nancy Ohlin
Thorn Abbey | Nancy Ohlin
various Jane Austen-related things...

On Pause:
A Corner of White | Jaclyn Moriarty

Guest Post & Giveaway: A Day in the Life of a Merman... from Zoraida Córdova! [The Savage Blue blog tour]

2013-05-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

Today we've got awesomeness from Zoraida Córdova as part of the THE SAVAGE BLUE blog tour, because awesomeness and merman. Last year, for The Vicious Deep, Zoraida stopped by to tell us a bit more about mermaid anatomy *waggles eyebrows*, and you can -and should - check that out here. You can also get a sneak peek at the beginning of The Savage Blue in my Friday Reads excerpt here.

This year, Z's giving us a glimpse into what it means to be Tristan Hart, merman and descendant of the Sea King, and all of his daily dramz. Check it out, leave some love for Zoraida in the comments, and make sure to check out The Vicious Deep and The Savage Blue!

Make sure to check out the rest of the Savage Blue blog tour stops, and enter to win Z's awesome mermish goodies below!! And keep an eye out for my review, which will be up in the soonish!

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The Savage Blue by Zoraida Córdova
Get It | Add It
416 pages
Expected publication: May 7th 2013 by Sourebooks Fire

"A storm is coming...

The ocean is a vicious place. Deeper and darker than Tristan could have imagined. Beneath its calm blue surface, an ancient battle is churning —and no one is safe.

In the quest for the Sea Throne, Tristan has already watched one good friend die. Now he must lead the rest on a dangerous voyage in search of the trident that will make him king. But while Tristan chases his destiny, the dark forces racing against him are getting stronger, and the sea witch of his nightmares is getting closer.

Battling sea dragons and savage creatures of the deep, Tristan needs his friends' support. But they each have their secrets, and a betrayal will force Tristan to choose between his crown and his best friend Layla — the only girl he's ever loved." (from Goodreads)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

April Book Haul, part 1

2013-04-30T15:18:00.000-04:00

Though April may not have been quite as crazy as March, I still managed to get a tidy little stockpile going... Here is the first half of that pile, featuring most of my review books and unsolicited copies for the month. There are definitely some in this stack that intrigue me, or that I can't wait to dig into, so let me know what you think of them - any you're looking forward to or have read?

Review: SCHOOL SPIRITS by Rachel Hawkins

2013-04-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins
Get It | Add It
Supernatural/Paranormal, 304 pages
Expected publication: May 14th 2013 by Disney-Hyperion

Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt?

Rachel Hawkins' delightful spin-off brings the same wit and charm as the New York Times best-selling Hex Hall series. Get ready for more magic, mystery and romance!

School Spirits is the first in a spin-off series from the Hex Hall books. And though I own the Hex Hall series, I was worried when this showed up in my mail that I wouldn't be able to read it, since I haven't actually read Hex Hall even a little bit. Being completely buried in books right now, and heading into what is inevitably my busiest month of the year, combined with the fact that I haven't read HH, I figured the best thing would be to set this on a shelf and let it languish for a bit while I responsibly go about the things I need to get done...which is why I opened up to the first page "just to see" and then proceeded to finish it.
[Don't look at me like that, I know I'm not the only one who does this.]

Since I haven't read HH, I guess I can't talk about how School Spirits compares to that, but I can certainly say that it makes me more eager to read it. Though this may not go down in history as the most memorable or most original book I've read, it was pure fun throughout, and I think I may come to find Hawkins' style a perfect funk-breaker. There are those authors or works that I always recommend when someone tells me they're in a reading rut (or when I, myself, am) because they're breezy, effortless style doesn't make you work at enjoying reading. These types of books make a great break when you're stalled in something that you just can't seem to finish, because they remind you that reading can be fun; an author can be have a sense of humor; a book can be quick and light and exactly what you needed to jumpstart you when you're in a slump. I have a list of such books to use as go-to recommendations, which includes things like Kiersten White's Paranormalcy, Jana Oliver's The Demon Trapper's Daughter. I have a feeling School Spirits will be added to that list.

That's the type of book School Spirits was. It's begging to be on "beach reads*" lists, or "curling up in a hammock with the sun on your face reads" lists or "OMG I'm done with finals, give me something fun!!1" lists. It was breezy and cute (not cutesy), with just the right amount of fluff to it to make it quick and compulsively engaging, but keep it from being a throwaway. The story is pretty standard paranormal fare, but Izzy - and a number of the other characters - are so engaging that they make the story shine. Hawkins has done a really good job of setting up the series, giving us all the basics to dive into the world, engaging characters to lead us through it, and enough mystery and openness to keep us coming back for those unanswered questions. And because two - at least - of those questions are pretty big ones, I have a feeling that the tension in this series is going to build quite nicely, and make each book stronger than the last. (At least, I can hope!)

So if you're in a rut and in need of a funk-breaker, or just love a good damn fun book, School Spirits might be just the one to pick up. And if you're like me, and still have Hex Hall sitting on your shelves, unread, then you may just want to have a summertime Rachel Hawkins binge...

*In fact, I've been wanting to do the Beach Reads thing again this year, so even though it's April and this is probably a little wishful/jinxful of me, we're going to go ahead and slap a Beach Reads button on this one. ^_^

Looking for more beach reads? *click*

Trailer: MAGGOT MOON

2013-04-29T13:40:00.001-04:00

I keep seeing all these neat trailers and thinking to myself, "Oh, I gotta remember to share that!" and then I inevitably forget. But this one I actually remembered (and by "remembered", I mean I pasted a link into a draft post, so that I would eventually see it and post it...), so I thought I'd share it with you. It's for Sally Gardner's Maggot Moon, and the trailer is kinda dark and grim, with moody violin music and quirky illustrations (rat cameo!). I actually hadn't heard of this book at all until I came across the trailer, but I was a fan of Gardner's I, Coriander, so I'm intrigued!

Check it out below, and let me know what you think!

#FridayReads: The Savage Blue by Zoraida Córdova

2013-04-26T14:43:00.001-04:00

I'm reading a little bit of everything at the moment, but the one I think I'm going to go with - and the one I chose for this weekend's #fridayreads is THE SAVAGE BLUE by Zoraida Córdova!

PLEASE NOTE: This is a sequel (though I wouldn't consider this especially spoiler-y), AND I'm reading from an ARC, so things may change in the final version.
Share your weekend picks on Twitter with the hashtag #fridayreads, and if you do a vlog, link it as a video response!

ABOUT THE BOOK:
GET IT | ADD IT

A storm is coming...

The ocean is a vicious place. Deeper and darker than Tristan could have imagined. Beneath its calm blue surface, an ancient battle is churning —and no one is safe.
In the quest for the Sea Throne, Tristan has already watched one good friend die. Now he must lead the rest on a dangerous voyage in search of the trident that will make him king. But while Tristan chases his destiny, the dark forces racing against him are getting stronger, and the sea witch of his nightmares is getting closer.

Battling sea dragons and savage creatures of the deep, Tristan needs his friends' support. But they each have their secrets, and a betrayal will force Tristan to choose between his crown and his best friend Layla — the only girl he's ever loved.

Friday Face Off: The Space Between

2013-04-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

So, who noticed Misty forgot it was Friday last Friday? And who wants Misty to never speak of herself in the 3rd person, ever, ever again? *raises hand*
Yeah, so I just totally forgot there was a weekend last weekend. This may be because there was a crazystupid event at work in which every person in the known universe traipsed through with their screaming children and crazy eyes. Or maybe I'm getting senile in my old age, whatever. Either way, I've remembered it's Friday this time, so. Onto this week's Face Off!
I've shown the US and UK versions of Brenna Yovanoff's books on Face Off before (mostly because the US versions are soooooooooo gorgeous that I want to shove them in everyone's faces. Look: shiny!). But I recently came across this cover re-do for the US paperback of Yovanoff's The Space Between, and lo! a Face Off was born... Though I feel like I would normally be drawn to this cover, that the designers would mess with the lovely synergy going on between the original covers of Brenna's books makes me kinda fronwy-faced. But maybe if you're not as obsessed with her books as I am, you won't be as bothered by the break in tradition? So let me know, which piques your interest? Which would you reach for?

Which one did it better?

Last Week(ish) on FFO: The UK and US versions of the second book in Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series, Crown of Midnight, went head to head in a battle of details and styling, and like the first time around, the UK won. And this is a rare instance where I have to disagree; with Throne of Glass, it was a no-contest UK win, but this time, with little tweaks like bringing the image forward and coloring the background, make the cover as a whole feel more rich and complete. (Though they are both, as vitajayne said, bad ass!)

Winner --------->

Better World Books Haul [March books, part 3 of 3]

2013-04-24T22:19:00.000-04:00

Alrighty, we're finally down to the last little bit of books I got in March - this time, we're taking a look at what I got from Better World Books, which is kinda funny, 'cause I just placed another order from them... (only to get an email the next day telling me that everything I ordered was now 40% off... dammit!)
If you want to catch up on the rest of the books I got in March, or any of my other hauls, this playlist is a good way to kill a day...
Anyway, we'll be (finally) moving on to the things I've gotten in April, but until then...

THE BOOKS:
Impulse & Initiative (has since been reprinted as "To Conquer Mr Darcy") | Abigail Reynolds
The Man Who Loved Pride & Prejudice | Abigail Reynolds
Sass & Serendipity | Jennifer Ziegler
Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears | Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, ed.
Black Thorn, White Rose | Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, ed.
Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers | Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, ed.
The Mists of Avalon | Marion Zimmer Bradley

all from http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

FLASH GIVEAWAY: Looking for Alaska by John Green [World Book Night]

2013-04-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably already know I'm a giver for World Book Night again this year! While I'll be giving most of my 20 copies away in my community, I of course can't resist sharing a few with you guys.

My hope, since this is to promote reading among reluctant readers, is that if one of you book-loving people wins, you'll share your copy around and push it on new readers in turn, so this is sort of my investment in you. A fun Pay-It-Forward type of deal. (Though of course, you're free to do what you want with it if you win.)

This year, I'm giving away 3 copies to my followers: one here, one on Facebook, and one on Twitter (so make sure you enter through those, too, for an added chance of winning!). Each giveaway is US only, and lasts only one day!!
To enter through the blogness, just fill out the Rafflecopter below!!

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Looking For Alaska by John Green
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Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. Then he heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Fairy Tale Festival ~ guest post from Kate Wolford, editor of BEYOND THE GLASS SLIPPER

2013-04-22T14:56:00.003-04:00

Seems the fairy tale goodies never end... (and really, why should they?)
Back in Fairy Tale Fortnight, I had a guest post from Megan Engelhardt, one of the authors of Wolves & Witches, a set of fairy tale retellings recently released by World Weaver Press. (You can find her piece, "Snow Day Stories" here.)
Today, I'm back with some more fairy tale lovin' from World Weaver Press - this time, from Kate Wolford, editor of Beyond the Glass Slipper, a collection that looks at ten lesser-known fairy tales, curated and annotated by Wolford. Kate is chatting with us about some of the...unlikely inspiration she found in non-fairy tale television, while pulling together this collection.
Take it away, Kate!

Getting any writing project done is mostly about hard work, but inspiration does play a role. I pull ideas and enthusiasm from books, of course. Yet music and television play a major role in my creative process as well.

Three television shows that inspired me while I was writing Beyond the Glass Slipper are in my mind as I write this post. Dexter,Breaking Bad and Lewis are not at all about fairy tales, but each has, in its own way, a dark, dream-like quality that puts me in mind of terrifying forests or horrible witches or dank, dark caverns filled with treasure or doom. In the case of all three, I "binge" watched them while writing BTGS.

Dexter is the Showtime series about a vigilante serial killer, Dexter (Michael C. Hall), who uses his considerable skills as a blood analyst to track down evil doers who have evaded justice. Then he kills them, rather efficiently, and disposes of them in the sea.

The show is far past its heyday, but obsessively watching Dexter's early seasons kept me focused on the importance of keeping words and ideas moving, and it reminded me that atmosphere matters, even though what I was writing was non-fiction. The show is always focused on loneliness and confusion, and watching it helped me probe character motivation when I was analyzing the fairy tales in BTSG. Plus, when it literally comes to voice, Michael C. Hall has the most beautiful one I have ever laid ears on. Just hearing him narrate an episode is listening to a kind of magic.

Next, you might be wondering, "How could a show about a meth cook in New Mexico inspire anything?" AMC's Breaking Bad isn't for everyone. It's violent and ugly and there are no real heroes. Drug use is very much not glamorized in the series. But the protagonist, Walter White (Bryan Cranston), is a kind of mad sorcerer. His dark magic with chemistry plunges him into twisty stories that make the watcher feel as confused as Hansel and Gretel on the all-important third morning in the forest.

Walter White was once an almost-lovable schlubby high-school chemistry hero. The series will end this summer, and I'm just waiting for him to get his comeuppance. Walter is like Bluebeard (without the many wives). He's a very bad man, but you can't look away.

Lewis is not in the same league as Dexter and Breaking Bad, both of which, at their peak, were superbly well-executed series. But it's so very beautiful. Set in Oxford, England, it really does seem too beautiful a place for anything bad, or even real, to happen. Yet, horrible murders take place there on a distressingly regular basis. Our two heroes, Robbie Lewis (Kevin Whately) and James Hathaway (Laurence Fox) are lonely, smart, determined policemen who nab their killer every time, even though they may wish they didn't have to.

The City of Oxford is like some deceptively gorgeous kingdom in a fairy tale. Beneath the charm and sophistication lurk the very worst sorts of crime. I'd watch an episode of Lewis (which had now probably ended as a series), and think: I want to be good at what I do, just like Lewis and Hathaway. I want to solve the puzzle of how to explain the fairy tale.

And after all, in every fairy tale, isn't there some sort of crime?

Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt

2013-04-18T21:29:00.000-04:00

I was tagged in the "Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt," which, yay! I've been wanting to do this one, so here goes! Also, it was REALLY EFFING WINDY in SE Michigan today...

Original Tag: http://youtu.be/PyjzwQXMyRc
I was tagged by BookswithDylan: http://youtu.be/_mPYS-BrPro

Things to find!:
• Find an author's name or title with the letter Z in it
• Find a classic
• Find a book with a key on it
• Find something on your bookshelf that's not a book
• Find the oldest book on your shelf
• Find a book with a girl on the cover
• Find a book that has an animal in it
• Find a book with a male protagonist
• Find a book with only words on it
• Find a book with illustrations in it
• Find a book with gold lettering
• Find a diary (true or fictional)
• Find a book written by someone with a common name (like Smith)
• Find a book that has a closeup of something on it
• Find a book on your shelf that takes place in the earliest time period
• Find a hardcover book without a jacket
• Find a teal/turquoise colored book
• Find a book with stars on it
• Find a non-YA book

Books Mentioned or Shown:
The Vicious Deep | Zoraida Córdova
Works of Jane Austen
The Archived | Victoria Schawb
The Key to the Golden Firebird | Maureen Johnson
Hungry Hill | Daphne du Maurier
Little Women | Louisa May Alcott
Leaves of Grass | Walt Whitman
Vessel | Sarah Beth Durst
Life of Pi | Yann Martel
Beautiful Creatures | Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl
The Replacement | Brenna Yovanoff
The Girl Who Played with Fire | Steig Larrson
Crewel | Gennifer Albin
Shine | Lauren Myracle
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian | Sherman Alexie
The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn | Aiden Chambers
I Capture the Castle | Dodie Smith
The Diviners | Libba Bray
The Pearl of the Soul of the World | Meredith Ann Pierce
The Virgin Earth | Philippa Gregory
Zan Gah series | Allan Richard Shickman
Daughter of the Forest | Juliet Marillier
Flavia de Luce series | Alan Bradley
(Red Herring Without Mustard shown)
The Adoration of Jenna Fox | Mary E. Pearson
Revived | Cat Patrick
For Darkness Shows the Stars | Diana Peterfreund
Three by Vonnegut | Kurt Vonnegut

The Grimm Diaries Prequels ~ guest review from Random Jordan (a belated FTF post)

2013-04-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

So...In all of the Fairy Tale Fortnight madness, it seems almost inevitable that something go missing and not get posted. (Or, as last year, get eaten by a hungry Blogger.) This is probably aided a bit by the fact that I use Post It flags in the early stages of scheduling. Much as I love them, and as much as it's the only way I can schedule - I need to see it all laid out - occasionally they fail me. (It's ok, Post Its, I still love you!)

This year is no different, and it seems Bonnie and I managed to lose to very lovely posts from Random Jordan in the shuffle. But it's never too late for fairy tale talk, right? So today, I have a guest review of Cameron Jace's Grimm Diaries Prequels, while Bonnie is hosting an awesome post about the evolution of fairy tales, which you should totally check out! (And if you want more Grimm Diaries, check out Bonnie's FTF excerpt of them!)

I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m a sucker for any kind of fairy tale re-telling, re-imagination, or just a look at the expanded universe of a fairy tale. This is probably why my kindle is littered with Andrew Lang’s books, all of the Wizard of Oz books, and a variety of modern fairy tales, which include the most reasons ones I’ve come across by Cameron Jace. These are a collection of short stories pulled together to create the prequel tales to a series Jace is releasing called ‘The Grimm Diaries’, which will start with Snow White Sorrow.

Each tale tends to focus on different major fairy tale characters including Cinderella, sleeping beauty, red riding hood, the evil witch from a few tales, beauty and the best, and many more. The premise based around each of these ‘diaries’ is that these are the fairy tale characters essentially telling their version of the story, since the Brothers Grimm had actually fabricated much of their history to lead away from the fact that most of the characters are immortal beings with exceptional powers (in some cases) in our world.

My particular focus will be on one of the diaries, the fourth one in fact, which is told by Little Red Riding Hood. Most people tend to just mention the first one, as it is a good opener to the rest of the series and also involves the main character of the first actual book, Snow White. But considering my background with Red Riding Hood and the particularly interesting tale to be told with this Red Riding Hood, I’ll start with this story and bleed into some of the others.

The Grimm Diaries Prequel #4 is called Ladle Rat Rotten Hut and although the name doesn’t exactly make much sense at first, you come to realize why it is called that as you read the story. The story tells just like a diary, with this one in particular starting with ‘dear diary’ considering it is technically written by a pre-teen girl. The writing holds true to a little girl too, from the very beginning she is referring to noises by how they sound with ‘tick-tick-ticking’ and keeps up this rhythm, which is rather reminiscent of the famous repetition occurring in the Red Riding Hood tale when she has dialogue with the wolf, as well as a common 3-3-3 theme in thousands of fairy tales, where things will repeat in threes.

And this is where the true beauty of the tale manages to show up too. Just by reading this single story, anyone who knows their origins and many versions of the same fairy tale can tell that Jace had done his homework. He brings mention to the golden hood which then later becomes red, in reference to the fact that Little Red Riding Hood was originally thought to be Little Golden Hood with her magical hooded cloak that protected her from the wolf. Further similar references soon appear as well as ones crafted by the author the most prominent of which I refuse to giveaway since it is rather crucial to the story, but let’s just say the red cloak and Red Riding Hood actually has a rather important job in the world, which explains why she’s an immortal.

Her tale mostly follows along the same story, with a wolf and the girl traveling through the woods on her own. But you discover soon that her reason for seeing her grandmother is more than just bringing her food and drink.

As for the name of the story? Well, during the course of the tale Red Riding Hood remembers and speaks with a language that is unique to only certain people. And her name in this language is Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, which means in English ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. She continually laments how everyone around her thinks her name is ridiculous.

The most interesting aspect of this story though was actually the method of interweaving Red Riding Hood with the Hansel and Gretel twins being saved from the witch. How was this done? Well first Red Riding Hood meets twins in town, and then when she gets to her grandmother’s she discovers the wolf in her grandmother’s bed, but he was bound there by her grandmother who was a terrible witch and had just eaten the twins Red Riding Hood met earlier!

This was definitely a far different and interesting twist on the story, and managed to weave other fairy tales into it, which is significantly more interesting and what I had been doing with my own series.

The other stories don’t all have quite so many twists and turns as this one did, and some of them actually focused on only parts of the stories of a character being told. Like the one involving Cinderella, called Ashes to Ashes, Cinder to Cinder, which is told by a granddaughter of the Grimm Brothers.

Regardless the unique atmosphere and combination of the various fairy tales and folklore makes this series a particularly fun one to pick up. Anyone who loves fairy tales will love these stories, so long as they have an open mind about those fairy tales. The only thing I could have asked for more with them was some diversity and variation in the characters, many of them still hold to the mostly straight white characters and there are tons of fairy tales that offer massive interpretations for diversity.

Regardless, the entire set of prequels is definitely worth a look considering how cheap they are, and how quick a read they can be. They can even be a great read for parents with children, so long as you look out for some of the darker stories. So get out there and enjoy some of those ‘wants pawn term’ (Once upon a time) stories!

Random Jordan is a self-proclaimed folklorist and frequent writer of all fashion of fiction with a particular focus of weaving LGBT themes into fairy tales, like their debut novel, The Real Folktale Blues, following Red Riding Hood in her adventures as a bounty hunter.

Book Chat: Awesome Design Elements!

2013-04-15T20:29:00.000-04:00

Continuing in the tradition of some of some of our favorite book chats on design, this month we're talking about the awesome surprising design elements that are popping up more and more in books. I forgot to address it in the video, but something that may be interesting to note - these memorable design elements MAY be a way to keep people buying physical books. Thoughts?

Link up your Chats as a video response, and/or you can link up blog and vlog posts on the linky, so everyone can check them out and get in on the conversation:

Also, basically every time I say "font" I mean text, or something similar... =D

BOOKS MENTIONED:
Anna Dressed in Blood: http://amzn.to/11bGjnZ
The Thorn and the Blossom: http://amzn.to/10YGkLm
Shiver: http://amzn.to/17CrBej
The Complete Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: http://amzn.to/YYw883
Unspoken: http://amzn.to/MGMABL
Boundless: http://amzn.to/156HbzC
Mist: http://amzn.to/16Z2Urg
Frost: http://amzn.to/16Z2Urg
Sunshine: http://amzn.to/LTjdzG
The Space Between: http://amzn.to/WFgrlO
Shattered Souls: http://amzn.to/12RUQZU
The Thirteenth Tale: http://amzn.to/RYexqe
Lovecraft Middle School: http://amzn.to/YfC33o
Penguin Clothbound Classics: http://amzn.to/O79hQD
Harbinger: http://amzn.to/17fRNbK
Burn Bright: http://amzn.to/11jurBb
Sweetly: http://amzn.to/T7cUWm

Part 2 of the March Book Haul (March was a good month...)

2013-04-14T17:46:00.003-04:00

If you've seen the first part of my March haul (or the first part of the REST of my March haul, since I'd had a haul in the beginning of the month...), you'll know March as a good month for me and a bad month for the weight limits of my bookshelves... Here's part 2 of that endless haul.
You can catch up on the rest of my recent hauls (or not so recent, if you want) here.

Thanks for watching, and let me know what you think of the books I got, and if you've gotten anything cool lately, let me know!

Spies & Prejudice excerpt [#FridayReads]

2013-04-13T18:29:00.000-04:00

In case you missed it, or in case you don't follow me on the youtubes, this week's Friday Reads vlog & excerpt comes from SPIES AND PREJUDICE by Talia Vance, a super fun Jane Austen meets Veronica Mars mash-up!
If you want to vote for S&P for this month's vlog review, go here.

ABOUT SPIES AND PREJUDICE:
Get It | Add It

"Fields' Rule #1: Don't fall for the enemy.

Berry Fields is not looking for a boyfriend. She's busy trailing cheaters and liars in her job as a private investigator, collecting evidence of the affairs she's sure all men commit. And thanks to a pepper spray incident during an eighth grade game of spin the bottle, the guys at her school are not exactly lining up to date her, either.

So when arrogant—and gorgeous—Tanner Halston rolls into town and calls her "nothing amazing," it's no loss for Berry. She'll forget him in no time. She's more concerned with the questions surfacing about her mother's death.

But why does Tanner seem to pop up everywhere in her investigation, always getting in her way? Is he trying to stop her from discovering the truth, or protecting her from an unknown threat? And why can't Berry remember to hate him when he looks into her eyes?

With a playful nod to Jane Austen, Spies and Prejudice will captivate readers as love and espionage collide."