The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
"Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Enter Theo, a super-ambitious outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby.

Emaline's mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life, and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of the happily familiar world of Colby?

Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?"- summary from Amazon

I love reading a new Sarah Dessen book. It's like coming home. I liken it to reading a Meg Cabot book; I just get so lost in their worlds and absolutely love every second I'm reading their books. I just can't help it! It's fun reading a Dessen book though because she's set up two different locations for her books; this one takes place in Colby, where Along for the Ride took place, and I'm sure has been mentioned other times in previous books. But since there's basically two locales for her books, the reader really gets to know about a place and revisit it in future books.

Emaline is a wonderful main character and I really enjoyed reading her journey. And of course there's all the great side characters too- Emaline's family and her interactions with them are usually hilarious. It was great learning more about Clyde too, who I feel we got to meet in Along for the Ride but didn't learn much about him (I could be wrong though; it's been so long!). Theo and Ivy, the New Yorkers, were interesting additions too coming to a small town from a big city and seeing how they dealt with that was fun. Her absentee father (suddenly not absent) too provided some great character development for Emaline and some depth to the story.

I also really liked how the story ended, though I don't want to say anything about it for fear of giving away a spoiler. If you've read it though, chat with me!

Overall, ... COME ON! It's a new Dessen book- just go get it!

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

The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff

The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff
"-A vampire locked in a cage in the basement, for good luck.
-Bad guys, clever girls, and the various reasons why the guys have to stop breathing.
-A world where fires never go out (with references to vanilla ice cream).

These are but a few of the curiosities collected in this volume of short stories by three acclaimed practitioners of paranormal fiction.

But The Curiosities is more than the stories. Since 2008, Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff have posted more than 250 works of short fiction to their website merryfates.com. Their goal was simple: create a space for experimentation and improvisation in their writing--all in public and without a backspace key. In that spirit, The Curiosities includes the stories and each author's comments, critiques, and kudos in the margins. Think of it as a guided tour of the creative processes of three acclaimed authors.

So, are you curious now?"- summary from Amazon

I'd started reading this book like a year ago when it was first on Netgalley, but I had to put it aside to read other books. Then it got archived way too early and had to beg for a physical copy (which is HUGE). Then it kinda took me a while to read it, but one day, I just felt like reading some short stories and picked it back up again. I started at the beginning since it had been so long, but I did recognize a few of the stories.

Anyway, long story short- this is a fantastic collection and when you finish, you'll want to pick up all of their novels just to spend more time with their words and worlds. I'm not kidding you; after finishing, I seriously wanted to read a book from each of them. The collection had put me into a mood for their writing. I ended up not doing that though because I needed to read other things, but I plan on doing it soon (and hopefully by the time this posts, I'll have done it).

It was great seeing into their critiquing relationship and reading their thoughts on each other's writing as well as where their ideas came from. Each story is usually preceded by a little note from that story's author as well as another of the Merry Fates (though some only included a note from the story's author), and then there are notes in the margins (generally of the "I love this line" or snarky variety) throughout the story. It was fascinating to read these and get a glimpse into their writing process and the art of the short story.

Occasionally sprinkled throughout are asides, like "What to Expect from a Story" and a section on their critiquing process. I wish there had been more of these, and hopefully there will be in their second collection, out in Fall 2014!

Seriously, this is a fantastic book about writing and critiquing, and has many wonderful short stories. I highly recommend it.

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

Guest Blog+ Giveaway- Nora Olsen on Dystopian GLBT Literature

I’m so pleased to be a guest blogger on Book Chic! When I begged James for a topic, he asked me a great question. He wanted to know how did I come to write dystopian YA featuring LGBTQ characters. He very correctly pointed out that YA books with gay main characters tend to be in the contemporary vein.

First of all, for those of you who love your YA but don’t waste a lot of time thinking about categorization, the word “contemporary” has come to mean recent realistic fiction, books about our real world and the problems/delights that ordinary teenagers encounter. Contemporary YA often centers on a romance and/or a terrible problem (cutting, suicide, death in the family, you get the idea. . .) Think Sarah Dessen, Gayle Forman, Kody Keplinger, Susanne Colasanti, Justina Chen Headley, Robin Benway. So basically, no wizards, vampires, mermaids, apocalypses, terrifying future worlds, or any other speculative elements.

So what are some examples of these contemporary YA novels with LGBTQ main characters?
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
I Am J by Cris Beam
Andy Squared by Jennifer Lavoie
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily Danforth
Out of the Pocket by Bill Konigsberg
Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
Sister Mischief by Laura Goode
The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd
Without Sin by J. Tomas

Those books are all awesome! Nora, you dumb fool, why don’t you try to write novels like those? If less than 1% of YA novels have LGBTQ characters (as writer Malinda Lo did the research to establish) [link: http://www.malindalo.com/2011/09/i-have-numbers-stats-on-lgbt-young-adult-books-published-in-the-u-s/] , than why be so perverse as to write a subcategory of a subcategory? Aren’t I just shooting myself in the foot?

The truth is, I am very inspired by Toni Morrison’s quotation, “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” Picture a reader who loves dystopian YA but is bummed because there are hardly ever any LGBTQ characters in such novels. This reader never gets to see herself reflected in her favorite kind of book. All the other kids get to battle each other to the death or learn that they live in a giant maze/prison/clockwork world, just not the queer kids. It seems like all the characters who have to run for their lives, fight for freedom, and battle tyrannical rulers are straight. Why? That’s just the way it is. I was that sad reader.

That’s why I decided to write Swans & Klons, a dystopian novel about two girls in love named Rubric and Salmon Jo who are forced to flee when they discover the truth about their society. They end up helping slaves escape, but that’s all I’m going to give away about the plot. I really wanted the fact that the main characters were lesbians not to be a problem or anything that they had to overcome. So it turns out that they live in an all-female world where everyone is cloned. And that opened up all kinds of fun possibilities about how that came to pass and what life is like in that world.

My previous book, The End: Five Queer Kids Save The World, was a post-apocalyptic story about a group of teens who travel through time to avert nuclear war. It featured an ensemble cast who, it so happens, were bisexual, lesbian, and genderqueer.

I’m not the first person to note that there’s a particularly notable lack of diversity of all kinds in dystopian YA. You’ll also find that there are very few main characters who are people of color in dystopian YA.

It turns out that my novel Swans & Klons has a soulmate. Obviously a novel’s soulmate would be another novel, and that novel is The Culling by Steven Dos Santos. That book was published just two months before Swans & Klons, so it’s kind of a March-May romance, if you will. The Culling is a dystopian novel with a gay main character and a delightful element of romance amidst all the spattered blood and agony. I think people who love Swans & Klons will love The Culling, and vice versa.

There is going to be a sequel to Swans & Klons in which Rubric and Salmon Jo have further adventures and continue their struggle against the Doctors who control their society. But you know what? My next book actually will be a “contemporary”! So stay tuned in 2014 for the simple story of two girls who hate each other with the red-hot passion of a thousand suns. . . until they fall in love.

I’m offering a giveaway of one print copy of Swans & Klons plus a matching magnet and bookmark. Open to US addresses only. (Sorry, the entire rest of the world.) Just leave a comment on here by August 14 at 9pm EST and you're entered!

Author Interview- Jessi Kirby

1) How did you get the idea for Golden?

It’s hard to pinpoint one place where I got the idea, but I can think of one really early inspiration. To this day, in the town where I went to college, there is a billboard up with a picture of a girl who disappeared more than ten years ago. The story of her disappearance has become somewhat of a legend in the town, one which I always found fascinating, so I think that’s where Julianna’s story came from. Originally, the book was going to be much more focused on her, but in writing it, I found she was only a piece of it, and that Parker’s story was truly the focus.


2) What are you currently working on? Can you tell us anything about it?

Right now I’m working on my next contemp, which is more of a love story than anything else I’ve written. It’s a complicated love story, one that I hope will turn out romantic, and sad, and hopeful all at the same time.


3) I've already asked you your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor, so what's your favorite snack to have while writing, or as a reward for writing?

My most favorite treat to have while writing is Trader Joe’s Pomegranate and Blueberry Green Tea, and their Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans. I swear the two together are like a magic focusing potion. My favorite reward for having written? A good glass of wine.


4) What book(s) are you reading now, or are about to start?

Right now it’s Ann Brashares’ adult novel, MYNAME IS MEMORY, which a love story that takes place over thousands of years as the two souls involved are reincarnated again and again. It’s beautiful and sad and romantic—right up my alley. On deck after that are LOTS of non-fiction books about the heart, it’s medical history, and its place in culture throughout history. You could call those books research for the one I’m working on now.
;-)

$50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!

I've got an awesome giveaway for you guys today! Cheryl and the folks at Appliances Online, a U.K. based appliance company, have kindly offered a $50 Amazon gift card for me to give away. All you have to do is just leave a comment on this post by Friday, August 9 at 9pm EST and you'll be entered; feel free to include what books you'll purchase with the card if you win (or whatever else you plan on buying). This contest is open to US & UK residents.