August Highlights

Hey folks!
Well it's coming to the end of July - so I thought I'd do a little post on what I'll be looking forward to in YA this coming month! (As if I didn't have enough to read as it is *grins*)

There is no Dog - Meg Rosoff
Published: 4th August by Puffin

Meet your unforgettable protagonist: God, who, as it turns out, is a 19-year-old boy living in the present-day and sharing an apartment with his long-suffering fifty-something personal assistant. Unfortunately for the planet, God is lazy and, frankly, hopeless. He created all of the world's species in six day because he couldn't summon the energy to work for longer. He gets Africa and America mixed up. And he's beleaguered assistant has his work cut out for him when God creates a near-apocalyptic flood, having fallen asleep without turning the bath off. There is no Dog is a darkly funny novel from one of our most delightfully unpredictable writers.

Juliet Immortal - Stacey Jay
Published: 9th August by Delacorte Press

The most tragic love story in history...
Juliet Capulet didn't take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But what Romeo didn't anticipate was that Juliet would be granted eternity, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light. For 700 years, she's fought Romeo for the souls of true lovers, struggling to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Until the day she meets someone she's forbidden to love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy that love.
(This one could be fantastic or fantastically horrible... We shall see...)

A Long, Long Sleep - Anna Sheehan
Published: 18th August by Orion

Rosalind Fitzroy had been asleep for 62 years when she was woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically-induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten sub-basement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long dead, and Rose - hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire - is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put her past behind her and adept to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardises her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes - or be left without any future at all.

Waiting on Wednesday #3

Waiting on Wednesday spotlights upcoming releases to be excited about! (Created by Jill at Breaking the Spine)

Crossed by Ally Condie

Published November 24, 2011 by Puffin

(This is Amazon:)

Rules are different outside the Society.

Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again.

Narrated from both Cassia's and Ky's points of view, this hotly anticipated sequel to Matched will take them both to the edge of Society, where nothing is as expected and crosses and double crosses make their path more twisted than ever...

(This is Alex:)

I read Matched early this year and I enjoyed it a lot. It's such an interesting dystopian world and even now I see things in the paper or on the news that makes me think back to Matched and how our society today is beginning to mirror this fictional world I've read. 

So Crossed is book 2, only a few months away from being in my hot little hands, and it looks like it will be a further look into the behind-the-scenes of this 'perfect' society. And of course continuing with this 'love triangle' which I'm not totally head-over-heals for, but such is the nature of YA these days! *laughs* I'm still very much looking forward to it - if you've not read Matched yet, I'd highly recommend it! 

Book Trailer Spotlight #1

Little Owl's Night by Divya Srinivasan, published by PenguinYoungReaders in September 2011.

Isn't it absolutely adorable?!!?! *gushes*

Book Review: The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley

"Once I am in the Cellar, proving myself indispensable to the safety of Marblehaugh Park, they'll never send me away. I will be safe then, absolutely safe." Pg 39







She doesn't really know who she is or what she wants...

Corinna is a Folk Keeper. Her job is to keep the mysterious Folk who live beneath the ground at bay. But Corinna has a secret that even she doesn't fully comprehend, until she agrees to serve as a Folk Keeper at Marblehaugh Park, a wealthy family's seaside manor. There her hidden powers burst into full force, and Corinna's life changes forever.

I'd never even heard of The Folk Keeper until I saw a friend reading it on GoodReads and became intrigued enough to check it out - and soon after ended up buying a copy for myself. Two things surprised me about this book - 1) it is much smaller that I thought it would be, a mere 162 pages and 2) It was first published in 1999, with this new edition being released this year with a most gorgeous cover!

One thing that is evident from the very beginning is that Corinna is a tough girl. Not knowing who her parents are, she has been shuffled from one orphanage to another until she decides that the only way to get ahead in the world is to be a Folk Keeper. And with hard work and determination she goes from the girl Corinna to the boy Corin, gathering as much information about the Folk as she can and developing a heart of steel and nerve.
Which works fine for four years until she is 'found' by another family who seems to have some knowledge of her past and her parents - so she has no choice but to go with them as their new Folk Keeper.

I really enjoyed The Folk Keeper. It was like reading a fairy tale that could have been read to me when I was little, steeped in the curious and ancient lore of the sea. If you're looking for something short but full to the brim with adventure, mystery and even a little romance I'd seriously push you into a bookstore to buy it! For anyone aged 10 and up.

This edition published: April 2011 by Bloomsbury 

Teaser Tuesday #3

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

- Grab your current read

- Open to a random page

- Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

- be careful not to include spoilers! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! you don't want to ruin the book for others!)

- Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

I'm really enjoying this book at the moment - and I love the UK/Australian covers!

Red Glove by Holly Black

Published April 2011 by Gollancz

"Dean Wharton's long list of things we will be punished for - a list that ranges from drinking, drugs and being caught in the dorm room of someone of the opposite sex, to skipping class, sneaking out after hours, and wearing black lipstick. The sad truth is that there is probably at least one person in each graduating class who's managed to break all the rules in a single wild night. I am hoping that, this year, that person is not going to be me.

I don't look all that good in lipstick." Pg18

Book Rant - Differences

It's always disconcerting when you read reviews of a book you've read and loved - only to find that others have not loved it at all...

I have just recently finished Wither by Lauren DeStefano and enjoyed it immensely. However upon logging into my GoodReads account I noticed that one of my friends had just started reading it - only she wasn't enjoying it at all. In fact she seemed to be deeply unimpressed after a mere four pages in. I couldn't help feeling like this was an attack on me personally! I felt a maternal need to protect my glorious, just-finished, love.

But I really shouldn't feel so bad - after all, I have walked in those very shoes. How people can make their way through Lauren Kate's pure Torment without banging their head against a brick wall, I'll never know.
Some people enjoy it. Who am I to judge?

I recently recommended a book called Jennifer Government by Max Barry to a friend of mine - only to have him report back that he hated it! How is this possible? I thought. It's one of my favourite books! I was so confused. How could anyone hate that book that I loved?

But while sometimes I wish that I could live in a world where everyone loves the books I love, and hates the books I hate - it really would be no fun at all.
We're all different for a reason and sometimes it's nice to be reminded of that and to take joy in it rather than getting distressed about it all.

...

And sometimes it's good to have a rant about the whole darned thing *grins*

Waiting on Wednesday #2

Waiting on Wednesday spotlights upcoming releases to be excited about! (Created by Jill at Breaking the Spine)

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Published October 17, 2011 by Harvill Secker

(This is Amazon:)

The year is 1984. Aomame sits in a taxi on the expressway in Tokyo.

Her work is not the kind which can be discussed in public but she is in a hurry to carry out an assignment and, with the traffic at a stand-still, the driver proposes a solution. She agrees, but as a result of her actions starts to feel increasingly detached from the real world. She has been on a top-secret mission, and her next job will lead her to encounter the apparently superhuman founder of a religious cult.

Meanwhile, Tengo is leading a nondescript life but wishes to become a writer. He inadvertently becomes involved in a strange affair surrounding a literary prize to which a mysterious seventeen-year-old girl has submitted her remarkable first novel. It seems to be based on her own experiences and moves readers in unusual ways. Can her story really be true?

Both Aomame and Tengo notice that the world has grown strange; both realise that they are indispensable to each other. While their stories influence one another, at times by accident and at times intentionally, the two come closer and closer to intertwining.

(This is Alex:)
I am really not sure I can describe just how excited I am about this book. Ever since I heard that it was being published in Japan two years ago I had been waiting and waiting for the news that it would be translated into English. It has been a very LONG two years, let me tell you. But it's almost time and I am getting jittery all over again. And really, if you've not read any Murakami by now - you're really missing out!