Susane Colasanti Sampler

I read and loved When It Happens, and I'm eagerly waiting for Waiting For You, so imagine how excited I was to spot this sampler of Susane Colasanti's work. Check it out!

Susane Colasanti Sampler

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Fiction Books when it happens take me there

Review: Being Nikki, Meg Cabot

Being Nikki
Meg Cabot

Official Summary:

Things aren't pretty for Emerson Watts.

Em was sure there couldn't be anything worse than being a brainiac the body of a teenaged supermodel.
But it turned out she was wrong. Because that supermodel could turn out to have a mother who's gone mysteriously missing, a brother who's shown up on her doorstep demanding answers, a former best friend who's intent on destroying Stark Enterprises to avenge the death of his lost love, and a British heartthrob who's written a song about her that's topping the charts.
How can Em balance all that with school, runway shows, and weekend jaunts to St. Johns - especially when she's got ex-boyfriends crawling out of the woodwork who want more than just a photo op; a sister who is headed to the high school cheerleading championships; a company she represents that seems to be turning to the dark side...
Not to mention trying to convince the love of her life that models aren't really airheads after all...especially one model in particular.

But then, nobody said it was going to be easy being Nikki.

What the Pros Say:

PW: Cabot…dishes up all the story ingredients her fans have come to know and love - romance, humor, believable teen dialogue and even a fantastical twist…Pure fun, this first series installment will leave readers clamoring for the next.

Kirkus: The text's abundant references to current pop culture and Em's witty character keep this read both grounded and fun.

What I Say:

Do you love love love Meg Cabot and all of her books? Then this one's definitely for you.

Are you a little iffier on her style, or haven't tried any of her books yet? Then I think I'd recommend that you start with another of her series (and you've got a whole bunch of gems to choose from: The Princess Diaries, The Mediator books, even the "Boy" books, which I absolutely adore and were some of the first books to drag me into the chick lit section).

Being Nikkiis a fun, enjoyable read, and if you read and enjoyed Airhead, then I would say that you're good to go. In this follow-up, the mystery around Em's transformation deepens--why is she really stuck in Nikki's body? Plus, all of her relationships become much more complicated, and Em's left trying to fix the mess that was Nikki's life while creating a new life all her own.

One nitpick that I did have with the book was that Christopher wasn't always the most likeable boy, but I think we can give him a miss on the theory that the love of his life had just died. Basically though, this one's a fun, quick read that will definitely appeal to Meg Cabot fans and will probably tickle anyone who enjoys fun, chick-litty reads with a little bit of geeky-girl-sass.

Book Contests!

This is a weekly compilation of all the contests in the YA book blogosphere, arranged here for your enjoyment. The list is posted once a week, but updated throughout the week, so remember to check back often!


On-Going:

Elizabeth Scott generally has weekly giveaways.

Alyssa at The Shady Glade hosts Contest Monday, and gives away a new book each week.

Stephanie Kuenhert hosts Women Who Rock Wednesdays on her blog, and they come with freebies. Check it out!

There's a new giveaway every week at Free Book Friday Teens (and while you're at it, check out their adult site, too).

Melissa Walker hosts Win-It Wednesdays over at her blog.

Teenreads.com has a monthly Grab Bags of Books contest.

RandomBuzzers has an ARC giveaway every Friday. You have to be a member to be eligible, but sign-up is simple and free, and participating in activities gives you the chance to get other free books!

Linda Gerber hosts Freebie Fridays every week at her blog, so remember to check back.

Carmen Rodriguez hosts Take it Home Tuesdays on her Myspace.

YA Books Central have a couple of giveaways each month, just check on the right on their main page.

Teens Read Too have a monthly contest.

One-Time Things:

Reader Rabbit is giving away two books by Kelly Armstrong. (Ends: 5/7)

Mrs. Magoo Reads is giving away Willow. (Ends: 5/11)

Boy With Books is giving away a copy of Rampant. (Ends: 5/15)

Reviewer X is giving away Waiting For You. (Ends: 5/16)

Presenting Lenore is giving away No One You Know. (Ends: 5/19)

A Maze of Books is giving away Sea Change. (Ends: 5/20)

Presenting Lenore is giving away a copy of Cycler. (Ends: 5/21)

Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf is giving away a copy of How to Buy a Love of Reading. (Ends: 5/22)

Sharon Loves Books and Cats is giving away a copy of Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff. (Ends:5/31)

Shooting Stars Mag is giving away three vampire books. (Ends: 5/31)

Carrie's YA Bookshelf is giving away two books to celebrate May. (Ends: 5/31)

Books by Their Cover is giving away a copy of How to Buy a Love of Reading. (Ends: 5/31)

Presenting Lenore is giving away a realistic fiction prize pack. (Ends: 6/3)

Presenting Lenore is giving away a fantasy prize pack. (Ends: 6/3)

Bookluver-Carol is giving away You Had me at Halo. (Ends: at end of blogiversary)


This is by no means a complete list, but I keep track for myself and I'll keep ya'll posted as well. If you've got a contest you'd like to have listed, just let me know in the comments!

Review: Perfect Fifths, Megan McCafferty

Perfect Fifths
Megan McCafferty

Official Summary:

Old flames are reignited in the fifth and final book in the New York Times bestselling Jessica Darling series.

Captivated readers have followed Jessica through every step and misstep: from her life as a tormented, tart-tongued teenager to her years as a college grad stumbling toward adulthood. Now a young professional in her mid-twenties, Jess is off to a Caribbean wedding. As she rushes to her gate at the airport, she literally runs into her former boyfriend, Marcus Flutie. It’s the first time she's seen him since she reluctantly turned down his marriage proposal three years earlier–and emotions run high.

Marcus and Jessica have both changed dramatically, yet their connection feels as familiar as ever. Is their reunion just a fluke or has fate orchestrated this collision of their lives once again?

Told partly from Marcus’s point of view, Perfect Fifths finally lets readers inside the mind of the one person who’s both troubled and titillated Jessica Darling for years. Expect nothing less than the satisfying conclusion fans have been waiting for, one perfect in its imperfection. . . .

What the Pros Say:

PW: McCafferty writes strong characters with rich, believable inner lives, but the attempts at formal cuteness don't allow the book to properly flourish.

What I Say:

I have to preface this by saying that I was an enormous fan of the first and second books. I actually picked up Second Helpings first, because I'd bypassed the two books so many times in the bookstore that I was sure I wouldn't like them. I was just looking for another book to top off my stack, and Second Helpings fit the bill. But by the time I was finished with the last page, I was already running out the door to get Sloppy Firsts from the bookstore, unable to wait until the checked out copy was returned to the library to rewind and read the beginnings of Jess and Marcus's adventures.

I loved those books. Devoured them. Could probably have quoted from them. I felt like Jess was me, and, like every other fan of the series, wished for a Marcus of my own. But I've got to say that the third and fourth books just didn't quite work for me. I wanted Jess to have matured more, or maybe I wanted her to have matured less. The constant references to the first two books seemed jarring--they pulled me out of Jessica's adult life and felt like a rehash of the first two books. I know that the third and fourth books have their fans, I just wasn't one of them.

So I was slightly dubious about this last book in the Jessica Darling series. Not dubious enough to keep me from racing out to get it the day it came out, but definitely slightly doubtful. Luckily, I think this one finally lived up to my expectations. Maybe it's that I'm a little bit older, maybe it's just that this one was a bit more my style, but I really think that Perfect Fifths provided the "perfect" ending for the series.

One of the big things that made that possible was the departure from the diary style and the foray into a variety of interesting formats to get across the reunion between Jessica and Marcus. Then too, the going back over of old events seemed somehow much fresher and more organic; wouldn't two long lost lovers rehash their past upon meeting again, after all? I've got to say that this is definitely my favorite since the first two, and all fans should give it a try.

That said, if you haven't been a fan of the series before, I would definitely go back and start at the beginning--I have a feeling that this book would be much less enjoyable without a working understanding of the trials and tribulations that Marcus and Jessica have gone through in their relationship to get up to this point.

Review: Taken, Edward Bloor

Taken
Edward Bloor

Official Summary:
BY 2035 THE RICH have gotten richer, the poor have gotten poorer, and kidnapping has become a major growth industry in the United States. The children of privilege live in secure, gated communities and are escorted to and from school by armed guards.

But the security around Charity Meyers has broken down. On New Year's morning, she wakes and finds herself alone, strapped to a stretcher, in an ambulance that's not moving. She is amazingly calm - kids in her neighborhood have been well trained in kidnapping protocol. If this were a normal kidnapping, Charity would be fine. But as the hours of her imprisonment tick by, Charity realizes there is nothing normal about what's going on here. No training could prepare her for what her kidnappers really want . . . and worse, for who they turn out to be.

What the Pros Say:

Booklist: "This page-turner will grab readers at the outset, and its unexpected twist at the close will send them back through events to look for embedded clues."

PW: "Deftly constructed, this is as riveting as it is thought-provoking."

What I Say:

I loved the first novel I read by Edward Bloor, Tangerine, but felt that his followups to that book were either overly preachy or just plain weird. With Taken, however, I finally found another of his books that I could really sink my teeth into. This one's another story of a dystopian future, here with rich children protected on all sides from the horrors of kidnapping, and we're presented with a world in which the rich are increasingly held prisoner by their own wealth, separated from the real world by necessity and greed.

In this world we meet Charity Meyers, whose eventual kidnapping forces her to reevaluate the things she has taken for granted all her life. Her conversations with one of her captors help her to come to terms with her new situation and to reconsider her old life, until she's not certain that she could ever be the same Charity again. Bloor's work is typified by his satirical approach, and in this one he's finally gotten a good balance between enjoyable narrative and social commentary. If you're interested in general futuristic dystopias, pick this one up for a good fun read with a genuinely surprising twist.

Book Contests!

This is a weekly compilation of all the contests in the YA book blogosphere, arranged here for your enjoyment. The list is posted once a week, but updated throughout the week, so remember to check back often!


On-Going:

Elizabeth Scott generally has weekly giveaways.

Alyssa at The Shady Glade hosts Contest Monday, and gives away a new book each week.

Stephanie Kuenhert hosts Women Who Rock Wednesdays on her blog, and they come with freebies. Check it out!

There's a new giveaway every week at Free Book Friday Teens (and while you're at it, check out their adult site, too).

Melissa Walker hosts Win-It Wednesdays over at her blog.

Teenreads.com has a monthly Grab Bags of Books contest.

RandomBuzzers has an ARC giveaway every Friday. You have to be a member to be eligible, but sign-up is simple and free, and participating in activities gives you the chance to get other free books!

Linda Gerber hosts Freebie Fridays every week at her blog, so remember to check back.

Carmen Rodriguez hosts Take it Home Tuesdays on her Myspace.

YA Books Central have a couple of giveaways each month, just check on the right on their main page.

Teens Read Too have a monthly contest.

One-Time Things:


Reading is Bliss is giving away a copy of Cold Hands, Warm Heart. (Ends: 4/20)

Sharon Loves Books is giving away a copy of Me, My Elf, and I (Ends: 4/21)

Reviewer X is giving away a copy of Silver Phoenix, and you can read the author's Pub Story here. (Ends: 4/22)

Rebecca's Book Blog is giving away three simon pulse romantic comedies. (Ends: 4/23)

Korianne Speaks is having an awesome, music-themed birthday giveaway! (Ends: 4/25)

Addicted to Books is giving away four books to celebrate their sweet sixteen. (Ends: 4/29)

Reader Rabbit is having an Ultimate Canadian Giveaway! (Ends: 4/29)

Reader Rabbit is giving away a copy of Miss Smithers. (Ends: 4/29)

Reviewer X is giving away all FOUR Secret Society Girl novels! (Ends: 4/29) Check out Diana Peterfreund's Pub Story here as well.

Reader Rabbit is also giving away a copy of Courtney Summers' Cracked up to Be (Ends: 4/29)

Carrie's YA Bookshelf is giving away City of Bones and The Summoning. (Ends: 4/30)

Shalonda is giving away your choice of 2 books and a $25 gift certificate. (Ends: 4/30)

Big contest surrounding How to Ditch Your Fairy, by Justine Larbalestier. (Ends: 4/30)

Shooting Stars Mag organized a HUGE contest around the release of Willow by Julia Hoban. TONS of awesome prizes. (Ends: 4/30)

And Another Book Read is having a Spring Giveaway. (Ends: 4/30)

Keri Mikulski is giving away four cool books in her Spring Giveaway! (Ends: 4/30)

WORD for Teens is having an April giveaway. (Ends: 4/30)

Bookluver-Carol is giving away Evermore. (Ends: 4/30?)

Bookluver-Carol is giving away Swoon. (Ends: 4/30?)

Bookluver-Carol is giving away an Elizabeth Scott book of your choice. (Ends: 4/30?)

Bookluver-Carol is giving away a copy of Mackenzie, Lost and Found. (Ends: 4/30?)

Another Book Read is giving away Being Nikki and Airhead. (Ends: 5/1)




This is by no means a complete list, but I keep track for myself and I'll keep ya'll posted as well. If you've got a contest you'd like to have listed, just let me know in the comments!

Review: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Carrie Ryan

Official Summary:
In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

What the Pros Say:
PW: That Mary maintains emotional distance serves to render her yearnings and romantic feelings even more poignant and powerful. Fresh and riveting.

Kirkus: But despite plot holes, more angst than action and an excess of philosophical meanderings, Mary's story delivers what's important: zombie apocalypse.

What I Say:
I read the first two chapters of this book online and I was hooked. HOOKED. So hooked, in fact, that I broke my "never buy a book before you read it" rule and ordered this one online after not being able to find it in the library or any of the local bookstores. The first two chapters just delivered this amazingly well-developed world, and gave us a protagonist in Mary who was full of curiosity and potential and fire, and I could NOT wait to read more.

I suppose it's not too much of a surprise that with expectations as high as all that I was slightly (and here let me emphasize the slightly) disappointed by the rest of this book. For a book about a zombie apocalypse, a whole lot of this book takes place in Mary's head, and there's a surprisingly small amount of action (both in the violent and romantic senses, interestingly). On the other hand, Mary's musings are definitely interesting, as is the world that Carrie Ryan has created for her characters to flee zombies inside of.

This book definitely left me wanting more, because with all the groundwork that has been laid in this book I can't help but wonder what's coming next for the zombie survivors. Forest of Hands and Teeth didn't quite live up to my expectations, but it was fantastic nonetheless, and I can't wait to read the follow-up.