Waiting on Wednesday- Editor turned Author Edition

I usually don't do themed editions of Waiting on Wednesday but in the past week, I came across two upcoming books being written by two editors I know.



Summary: Skye never questioned the story of her life. Her Aunt Jo adopted her after the death of her parents when she was just a child, and together they flip through memories the way some people flip through photo albums.

She never questioned if the stories were true.

Until the night of her 17th birthday, when the arrival of two strangers intrudes on her cozy life. Polar opposites, like fire and ice, Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair, cold, and aloof. Skye has no idea what they want—only that their presence coincides with the beginning of some shockingly strange events. Events that Skye, if she dares to think it, might be responsible for causing.

High up in the mountains of Boulder, Colorado, Skye finds herself caught in the middle of an ancient battle, one that began untold millennia ago. Torn between unpredictable Asher, whom she loves, and the infuriating Devin, who she can’t stay away from, her fate is murky as a starless night. And as the secrets of her true identity are revealed, Skye realizes that her destiny may reside in the Heavens—or somewhere darker.


(this is the only photo I could find from a review and I'm not even sure this is the right cover...)
Summary: She knows only Sam, a mysterious teenage boy. He is her sole companion; her whole life. She was born, already a teenager, lying outside a burning building in soot-stained clothes, remembering nothing, not even her name. He showed her the necklace she had on, the one that named her: Abby. Sam brought her to live in his cave-palace, where he gives her everything she needs. He loves her. He protects her from the world outside, from everyone who wants to hurt them, like the denizens of Circle Nine, Dante’s deepest circle of hell.

But even in a charmed, brand-new life like Abby’s, change will come. Sam falls ill. A new girl comes to stay, and Abby begins to question Sam’s devotion. With doubt comes emotional turmoil, changes in perception, and glimpses of her past identity. In this courageous psychological thriller, Abby tells the story of living her new life and discovering her old one, while grappling with an ever-changing reality.


Don't both of them sound AWESOME?! I'm really excited and proud to see these two editors get their YA debuts published since I've chatted with each a bit. Jocelyn and I have only chatted a tiny bit when I got to meet her at BEA through Michele Jaffe (Jocelyn was her editor for Rosebush), and then we've emailed once or twice. She told me about her book through email after BEA and it just sounded so good. Now, at this BEA, I'll be getting a signed copy of that book (yes, she's doing a signing!) and I can't wait to read it.

Anne and I go a bit further back to my first blogoversary (June 2008) and she sent me a TON of Penguin titles to read, review, and giveaway. She was so sweet and very helpful to me. Then around a year later (May 2009), she asked me to take a look at a book she was editing that was coming out early the following year (Feb 2010). ARCs hadn't even been printed yet so she sent me a PDF of the book. That book was The Naughty List by Suzanne Young, which started my friendship with Suzanne since I immediately emailed her after finishing the book and gushing about it to her. I think Anne left Penguin kinda shortly after if I recall correctly and we lost touch. I had no idea she was even writing a book, let alone got it published! It's now on my list of books to get at BEA (hmmm I wonder if she's doing a signing too, hehe!).

A Beautiful Dark will be released from HarperTeen on Sept. 27, and Circle Nine will be released from Candlewick on Sept. 13!

Meandering Monday (14)- Books Teen Boys Should Read Part 2

First off, I have two things to talk about. One is this link about GLBTQ literature which I absolutely love- please go and read it at some point if you can.

The other is that I went to a book signing this past weekend in DC! I have no pictures because I forgot my camera but that's fine since this recap will be short. My mom and I went to see Sarah Vowell talk about her latest book, Unfamiliar Fishes, which is about the annexation of Hawaii (or, as Sarah likes to say, "It's about Hawaii!" because that conjures more positive images, lol). I've loved Sarah's other books and was really excited to hear her speak. The event was at Politics and Prose and we got there a half hour before the event started and it was already packed. There was probably over a hundred people crammed in there, so we had to stand the whole time (which sucked). Sarah read from the book and did a QnA with the audience, which was very funny. I think it was being recorded so if it ever pops up online, I'll link to it. I got in the long line to get my book signed and, being a mute freak, said nothing when I got up there but luckily, she writes quick so there wasn't much time anyway. Plus, there were a bajillion people behind me. But I had a fun time and it was great to hear her speak.

Alrighty, on to Part 2 of this series, and this post will probably be shorter since I was really busy this past week so not much was thought about. As for recommendations, you all came out and provided some excellent ones, some of which I've read and berated myself for forgetting and some that I hadn't read or even heard of. Here's the list:

Cindy Pon recommended- The Demon's Lexicon series by Sarah Rees Brennan, Flash Burnout by L. K. Madigan, Hold me Closer, Necromancer by Lish Mcbride (double rec since I mentioned it!), Black Hole Sun by David Mcinnis Gill, Break by Hannah Moskowitz, The Demon King and The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima, The Devil's Kiss and Dark Goddess by Sarwat Chadda, Paper Towns by John Green, The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner, Candor by Pam Bachorz, Unwind by Neal Shusterman, The Knife of Never Letting go by Patrick Ness

Braiden recommended the Gone series by Michael Grant and I hope he doesn't mind me linking to the video he did about lots of other wonderful books for boys (if you do, I'll take it down, lol)! Check out the info to see other videos that discuss the issue. Also, side note, I quite enjoy his accent.

Lauren M recommended Compulsion by Heidi Ayarbe, which will be out in May, I think. I really want to read this book!

Ashley recommended Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson, Cynthia Voigt's Tillerman Saga (particularly A Solitary Blue, The Runner and Sons From Afar), House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, Markus Zusak books, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman (almost included WSW last week cuz of male MC, but ended up not since it wasn't out yet), The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta, Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (AMAZING), and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (how could I have forgotten about this book?!).

Amy recommended Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, and any of Rick Riordan's books.

Alison recommended Swim the Fly, and Beat the Band by Don Calame.

See, TONS of books out there.

Just to finish up, I wanted to bring up a point that I thought was interesting when I was putting together my recommendations last week. If you noticed, I mentioned several times that a romance was presented in this book or that book. I thought that was odd because for some reason, it's just been ingrained in me that boys don't like romance so I'm like trying to warn them- OMGZ KISSING AND ROMANTIC FEELINGS IN THIS BOOK!! ENTER WITH CAUTION!!

But why? Women don't get into relationships with themselves (well, not ALL women, lol). Men are usually part of the equation if the woman is straight (well, and the man too because yeah...). So why is it such a problem for a boy to read a book with a romance in it? Boys get those same feelings too; that's how love and relationships work. Both people have romantic feelings for each other and want to kiss (and eventually do more, which YA novels also address). Boys aren't these unfeeling pod robots that don't need love. Boys need to read books with romance in them because then you can use the same tricks on real life girls and also understand them better. Or even if those don't happen, don't you want to read a romance and be like "I want that for myself someday."? That's what I did and still do when I read books. It doesn't matter if they're a straight romance or a gay one- love is love either way (though reading gay romances does give me more hope). Plus, it helped for a girl MC to be in first person because I could usually just place myself in the story easily and fall in love with the boy.

What do you all think about boys and their aversion to romance in books? I know some people commented last week and mentioned having teen boys and trying to find books for them, so please chime in with your thoughts. I am really curious.

Cat Friday (9)

Cat Friday is a somewhat-weekly meme that's similar to Presenting Lenore's Cat Tuesday, in which I show off pictures of my cats. You've seen them in videos wandering by but now you can see them more clearly.



Another kitten pile(ish)! It's all five kittens- Pearl (top left), Meeko (top right), Farley (middle), Khali (bottom right), and Chance (bottom left) having a nice nap together. I loved it when they did that because it was just so cute seeing all the brothers and sisters together.

I usually don't see all four of ours (Chance is with my roomie's friend) doing that anymore; usually it's maybe two of them together at a time but mostly they stay separate, except for the occasional moment when they're together. When they're together, sometimes they lick each other, which is just about the cutest thing.

Taking a Break

Yes, you all read that right. I've decided to take a mini-ish break from blogging. It's mini because it's only a week and a half, and ish because I'll still be doing some posts.

I guess really what I'm doing is taking a break from reviewing. I'm backlogged and just not on top of things right now because it's been a hectic last few days. I simply can't keep going at the pace I'm going right now. I was supposed to have a review up of The Trust right now but I'm only 80 pages into it (and it's 356 pages). This break will help me catch up on everything and be able to stay ahead of my reviews by a week or so, if not a bit more.

So you'll all still get Cat Friday tomorrow and next week, my continuing series on books for boys on Monday, and a Waiting on Wednesday. I'll be officially back on April 4 when I do Fresh New Voice of YA, which will feature Through Her Eyes by Jennifer Archer and The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder. So Fragment Friday for that month will be on April 8.

Please stick around and comment on these upcoming every-other-day posts. I love getting comments; they fill my heart with joy. :) Also, thanks for all the birthday wishes yesterday- I had a great day- and be sure to enter my Birthday Contest to win advance copies of Where She Went by Gayle Forman and Abandon by Meg Cabot!

Birthday Contest + Ask Book Chic (21)

Today's my birthday (25, yo!) and it's also Ask Book Chic time, but I'm running out of questions again, so I figured I'd hold a birthday contest! Find out how to enter and what you can win at the end of the entry!

Karen asks "OK, my questions are: Why do you start blogging? Do you ever feel as if it is more a job then enjoyment? and what other hobbies do you have besides for reading?"

I started blogging for the simple reason that I really enjoyed interviewing authors. My first interview was with Lauren Barnholdt and it was a lot of fun. Of course, there's also my insane love of books, lol.

I do feel like it is a job but one I, for the most part, enjoy. There's times where it can be overwhelming but that's usually for one of two reasons- 1) real life gets in the way (that's why this is going up around noon today rather than midnight) or 2) I push myself to do too much too quickly (also is happening this week. I may take a tiny break). But most of the time, it's a really enjoyable experience and I'm really glad I had the idea to start a blog back in June 2007.

I'm a boring person so I don't really have any other hobbies. I do occasionally write and I am working on a novel, but it's slow-going. I need to get my butt in the chair and type. But aside from that, I've got nothing. Sad, isn't it?


Anne asks "My question is: What is the first book you remember reading that you loved? And what book got you into reading?"

I had something like this a long time ago and it took me forever to find out what the answer was because I only vaguely remembered it. I'm too lazy to look it up now, but it was a picture book series about a boy and his horse and they went on adventures. They were pretty old books too, if I recall. As for what got me into reading, it was Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries series. Those books showed me the wondrous world of YA and I've been grateful ever since!


MannaB asks "Do you consider blogging a job, even just a part time one?

Do you have any pets?

How supportive are your friends and family with your blogging?"

I talked a bit about this above, but I'll expand a bit since it's a slightly different take on it. I do consider blogging a job, and I feel like others should too, if they want their blogs to be really good. It's something you need to spend time on- the posts, the layouts, the features you have, etc. That doesn't mean you can't have fun with it while you're doing those things, but if you're serious about blogging, it does become a bit like a job.

I have 6 cats who readers see regularly in my feature Cat Friday and in most of my vlogs. There's a mom, a dad, and 4 babies. There's a 5th baby but he is with a friend of my roommate. We also have a gerbil, who's adorable.

Everyone is REALLY supportive. My dad can be a bit too supportive, in that he talks about my blog to a wide variety of people, usually while I'm around so I can feel the full embarrassment. But yeah, everyone thinks it's pretty cool.


Alrighty, so contest time! One winner will be receiving my extra ARCs of Where She Went by Gayle Forman and Abandon by Meg Cabot, two of April's most-wanted releases! To enter, you have to leave a question for me in the comments and it can be about absolutely anything- my life, my blog, my writing, advice, whatever. These questions will be used for future Ask Book Chics, so keep an eye out if you leave a question! This contest will end Wednesday, March 30 at 9pm EST and the winner will be notified by email shortly after. If your email address is not readily accessible (like on your blog site or profile page), please leave it in the comments so I can contact you if you win. This contest is for North American residents only.

If you want to just leave a happy birthday comment, feel free to do so. Your comment won't be counted into the contest unless you leave a question too.