In My Mailbox- Week of Dec. 20 + Retrospective

Yes, I did a vlog. Hope you enjoy and I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!



By the way, I love the screencap this video has. It looks like I'm dancing or something.

Stuff Shown:

Family Guy: It's A Trap! DVD (shown because YA author Cherry Cheva co-wrote the special!)
Wither by Lauren DeStefano (ATWT Book- March 2011)
Clarity by Kim Harrington (March 2011)
The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson (Jan 2011)
Where She Went by Gayle Forman (April 2011) + Metro Map (story in video)
Rosebush by Michele Jaffe (in stores now!)


And here's my retrospective:

Monday- A Meandering Monday where I link to two guest posts I did and ask if I should continue Fresh New Voice of YA (I've concluded that I will continue it).

Tuesday- I reviewed Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers, which is out in stores now.

Wednesday- I posted an Ask Book Chic, in which I talk about who I really want to interview, what book I'd read on my last day on Earth and who I'd read with, and what time period I'd travel to.

Thursday- You can read Wish by Alexandra Bullen for free until January 3, 2011, just in time for the sequel's release! Check out the widget to find out how.

Read Wish by Alexandra Bullen for Free!

To coincide with Wish's sequel, Wishful Thinking, being released, there's this really cool Wish widget that I got in my inbox today. You can read the entirety of Wish for free up until January 3!

Wishful Thinking will be released January 1! The paperback of Wish is out now!

Ask Book Chic (18)

Thanks everyone for their questions in the last Ask Book Chic! I'll hold another contest when I need more questions. I'll be posting a review tomorrow and then nothing until next week, so happy holidays everyone!! :)

Cindy asks "James, if you could interview one person on your blog (that you haven't already but want to really bad) who would it be ant why?"

In the beginning, it would've been Stephenie Meyer because I got several requests from readers being like "You should interview Stephenie Meyer!" when I asked for suggestions on what to post on my blog. But now, I don't know. I feel like I'm able to access authors so easily that if I do get an idea to interview someone, I'd be able to. But if I had to choose, I'd probably say David Levithan because I love his books so much and he's edited so many wonderful books and anthologies.


Lauren M asks "Okay, here's my question: If you had one day left on earth, what would you read, and who would you read with?"

I'd probably read with Meg Cabot or Michele Jaffe because they are awesome and hilarious. It'd be fun to read a book side by side and comment on it as we go through it. For giggles, I'd probably say Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. For serious reading, um, I don't know. I'd read anything with those two, but especially one of their upcoming novels. That'd be cool.


April X asks "If you could time travel, where or when would you go to?"

I'd probably like to go to ancient Egypt because it's fun and a period I really am interested in. Or maybe to the future to, you know, see what's going on.

Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers

Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers
"When Eddie Reeves’s father commits suicide her life is consumed by the nagging question of why? Why when he was a legendary photographer and a brilliant teacher? Why when he seemed to find inspiration in everything he saw? And, most important, why when he had a daughter who loved him more than anyone else in the world? When she meets Culler Evans, a former student of her father’s and a photographer himself, an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler seems to know more about her father than she does and could possibly hold the key to the mystery surrounding his death. But Eddie’s vulnerability has weakened her and Culler Evans is getting too close. Her need for the truth keeps her hanging on...but are some questions better left unanswered?"- summary from Amazon

I'm not sure what to say about this book. I did enjoy reading it, like I do all of Courtney's books, but at the same time, I felt like something was missing. I wasn't as into this book as her previous two. I mean, I put it down the whole weekend and maybe read 20 pages Saturday and Sunday. It was just weird. Normally, I'm turning the pages maniacally and can't put it down. But I was easily able to put this down; there was no sense of urgency in it for me.

I don't mean to come across as saying that Summers did a bad job or something because she didn't. Her prose is extremely exceptional and really taps into the feelings of a girl who's lost her father in a horrible way and is still dealing with the grief. How she might act out, be searching endlessly for answers, look up to any ray of light that might help her figure it out. It's emotional and heart-wrenching.

The relationships here are well-defined right away and grow throughout the book. I loved seeing Eddie and Milo together (oh, how I wish I was talking about a gay couple) and their friendship was wonderful to see. They really did get and understand each other really well.

Overall, I'd recommend her first two books over this personally, but this is still a pretty good book (a B compared to the A+'s of CUTB and SGA). Definitely check it out especially if you loved her previous two. I'm in the minority for not loving it unconditionally.

Also, there was a fun thing I did on Twitter over the weekend called the James Cry Watch 2010 where I read the book and updated with my thoughts on it because people were saying this book would make you cry. I'm not a crier, so I took on the challenge. See how it panned out by going here (hopefully the link works). Start from the bottom and go up.

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Meandering Monday (3)

Some things got posted last week from me! I did a guest post for Story Siren Appreciation Week which I absolutely loved. Kristi is a wonderful blogging inspiration to a lot of people and she's a great friend, so she totally deserves this appreciation.

Alexa from Not Enough Bookshelves asked me to write a small post for her Christmas Couple Countdown where she counts down her favorite couples of the year and also asks other bloggers and authors who their favorite couples were too. So I wrote about Alex and Nathen from What They Always Tell Us by Martin Wilson. Go check both out and comment! :)

So this week and next, I'm only doing posts Monday through Thursday due to the holidays, though I may post my list of books read during 2010 on January 1. Then 2011 will be starting- woo!!

I'm really excited for 2011 and I hope over the holidays, along with spending time with family and all that, I can also update the blog in some areas and work on some of the features I've been doing.

In fact, I have a question for you all- should I continue doing Fresh New Voice of YA? I kept it going because it was a staple of my blog on Myspace (and I also enjoyed doing it) but it seems like no one seems to come by as much during those weeks each month (well, depending on the book featured). It doesn't mean I'd stop interviewing debut authors or reading their books, but I'd be doing it in a more traditional way rather than featuring them 3 times in one week. Instead, I could just review their book as normal and if I feel like doing an interview with them, contact them for one at a later date. That way, the promotion is more spread out.

I don't know, I'm just typing and words are coming out. I don't know what I'm saying, lol. But do answer the question please. I needz feedback! Maybe I should do a form people could fill out or something. I like getting feedback, whether positive or negative, so it'd be nice to do. I'll work on it.

Happy holidays, everyone!! :)