Top Ten Books I'm Looking Forward to in 2013

I'm not big on the book news; I tend to be pretty clueless about what's coming out and when, but there are some books I can't wait to get my hands on in 2013...

1. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 2 (currently untitled) by Ransom Riggs. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children almost became one of my favourite books... until it ended on a massive cliffhanger that drove me nuts. So needless to say I've been waiting for the sequel for awhile.

2. Just One Day by Gayle Forman. I looooved If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman, so I've been eagerly anticipating her next book.

3. Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris. OK, I haven't been excited about the Sookie Stackhouse books for awhile. But I'm excited for this one because it will finally bring the series to an end, and answer the question once and for all - will Sookie end up with Eric? She better.

4. Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins. I love, love, loved Anna and the French Kiss and really enjoyed Lola and the Boy Next Door, so I predict good things for the final book in Perkins' trilogy.

5. The Hybrid Chronicles 2 (currently untitled) by Kat Zhang. I really enjoyed Zhang's debut novel, What's Left of Me, when I read it recently, and I can't wait for the sequel.

6. The Boss by Abigail Barnette. Not content with pointing out how terrible 50 Shades of Grey is in her hilarious, brilliant recaps, Jennifer Armintrout (under the name Abigail Barnette) has decided to publish a feminist romance as the antithesis to the abusive dynamics found in the popular tome. Best of all? She's publishing it for free on her website, in serial form. It sounds awesome.

7. Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff. The plot sounds really intriguing - a young girl is haunted by her best friend, who pushes her to investigate her death and the other mysterious murders in their town. Plus the cover is super pretty, and I'm superficial like that.

8. Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak. The Book Thief is one of my favourite books, and this will be Zusak's follow up. It's been a long time coming, and I anticipate amazingness.

9. Prodigy by Marie Lu. The first book in this series, Legend, was pretty decent, and I've heard the sequel is even better.

10. When We Wake by Karen Healey. About a girl who gets cryogenically frozen and reanimated 100 years later, this is one dystopian/sci-fi that sounds unique and has a lot of potential.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Contemporary YA Authors

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is a toughie for me because I'm not a big genre reader, but I have been gravitating towards contemporary YA a lot lately so I thought I'd list some of the awesome authors I've come across...

Sure, it may look completely random and irrelevant, but contemporary YA makes me happy and so does this gif. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

1. Stephanie Perkins. Anna and the French Kiss completely blew me away, and although I didn't enjoy Lola and the Boy Next Door quite as much, it was still great. I can't wait for Perkins' next novel, Isla and the Happily Ever After, to come out.

2. Melina Marchetta. One of my favourite authors of all time. I love the way Marchetta captures authentic emotions and experiences and creates such wonderful, well-rounded and realistic characters. All of her contemporary fiction is fantastic, but On the Jellicoe Road is probably my favourite.

3. Ann Brashares. I've mentioned before that it was The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series that introduced me to YA and made me rethink my previous (judgmental) stance on it. It was such a fun and touching read. I've been meaning to reread the series for awhile, especially with the last installment that's come out, but I've heard some spoilers so I'm kinda scared.

4. Gayle Forman. If I Stay is kinda supernatural, but its sequel, Where She Went is more contemporary. I adored both books and their characters, but I especially appreciated Adam's point of view in Where She Went.

5. Libba Bray. I have a ridiculous amount of love for Beauty Queens. I thought it was clever, hilarious and so much fun. I've wanted to read more of Bray's books every since I read it, but sadly for me I haven't gotten around to it yet.

6. Morgan Matson. I loved Amy and Roger's Epic Detour; the characters were likable and the story was so much fun, while still maintaining some serious aspects. It made me totally want to take a road trip around the US and eat lots of hamburgers. Second Chance Summer was also a great read, and utterly heartbreaking.

7. Simone Elkeles. I wasn't sure whether I should put Simone on the list given the recent hullabaloo around the way she responded to one of her reviews, but the truth is I absolutely loved her Perfect Chemistry series so she deserves a spot here. Sure, it's totally cheesy and predictable, but it's also completely addictive and fun.

8. Judy Blume. 'Nuff said.

OK, I'm out. Unfortunately I haven't read enough contemporary YA to have a complete top ten (though it's probably the genre I've read the most!). Because I'm kinda OCD and can't have an incomplete list, here are two contemporary YA authors I want to read.

1. John Green. I know. I haven't read any John Green. Yes, I'm hanging my head in shame.

2. Sarah Dessen. Now my whole body is hanging in shame.

Who are your favourite contemporary YA authors?

My Book Boyfriend: Adam Wilde

My Book Boyfriend is an awesome weekly meme hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader, all about fictional boys who make us swoon. If you've been reading my blog at all this week, it'll come as no surprise that I'm currently obsessing over Adam Wilde from If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman.

About Adam

• He's a hopelessy romantic, grand-gesture, do-anything-for-love kind of guy. He invests everything in love - so when he loses it, he's utterly crushed.
• He's obsessed with music, and is a guitar-playing, singing, song-writing rock god.
• He's a gentleman at heart, even if his depression leads him to act in a different way at times.
• His eyes are flecked with green, brown and grey, and he has a lopsided smile. He's thin but built, and has some subtle tattoos.
• To me, Adam looks like Darren Criss.

Swoon-worthy Quotes

"Please Mia," he implores. "Don't make me write a song."

"Whenever I remember it, I just picture our tent, a little ship glowing in the night, the sounds of Mia’s and my whispers escaping like musical notes, floating out on a moonlit sea."

"I suddenly want to hear her bones rattle. I want to feel the softness of her flesh give, to hear her gasp as my hip bone jams into her. I want to yank her head back until her neck is exposed. I want to rip my hands through her hair until her breath is labored. I want to make her cry and then lick up the tears. And then I want to take my mouth to hers, to devour her alive, to transmit all the things she can’t understand."

"You don’t share me. You own me."

 

"'Your place is right here,'" I whispered, laying down and hugging her close.

"Hate me. Devastate me. Annihilate me. Re-create me. Re-create me. Won't you, won't you won't you re-create me."

"I can't wrap my mind around the notion of you not getting old, having kids, going to Juilliard, getting to play that cello in front of a huge audience, so that they can get chills the way I do every time I see you pick up your bow, every time I see you smile at me." 

Related Reviews
If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman 

Images via darren-criss.com

Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

So. I just finished Where She Went. I don't think I can form coherent thoughts. But I'll try.

It was amazing. While If I Stay sucked me in to Adam and Mia's story, Where She Went held me there. Told from Adam's perspective and dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy that took Mia's family - and, in another way, Mia herself - away, it was a fascinating take on grief, depression, music, celebrity, loneliness, loss and love. At first I was frustrated with the angst-riddled Adam, thinking, "Really? I know she's the love of your life, but SUCK IT UP. Just a little." But then as the story unfolded, and we're told in flashbacks exactly what happened for Adam to get this way, I understood more, and thought, "OK, you're entitled to your pain."

Then there was Mia - like Adam, oh, I was so angry with Mia. Well, not so much angry, more frustrated and confused. The person who cut Adam off without so much as a goodbye definitely didn't sound like the same girl who desperately yearned for him in If I Stay. But she had her reasons, too, and again, once they're explained, it all makes sense. I wasn't such a fan of the more supernatural elements of the book - which is strange, I know, considering the first one is pretty much told from the perspective of a ghost - but this one just had a differnt tone (rightly so) that those parts just didn't seem to gel with. For me, at least. But I loved all the answers and explanations we got, and the sense of closure at the end. Plus, I'm a sucker for all-nighter type stories and secret tours of beautiful cities. So romantic!

Rating: 4.5/5

(Spoilery) Talking Points

• My favourite scene in the whole book had to be when Mia gave Adam his guitar, and he looks around the room and sees that he IS still there, still important in her life. Then Mia describes Adam as her parents' gift to her, like the cello was at her first recital. Such a powerful moment. It definitely made me tear up.
• Another thing that made me tear up - Teddy, of course. I liked how Adam described his reaction to Teddy's loss - how he felt "gutted". Sums it up perfectly, I think.
• Ahhh, the ending - it made me so happy. I wanted MORE. More happiness! More love! More of the old Mia and Adam, please!

Eye Candy
As I mentioned in my review of If I Stay, I pictured Emma Stone as Mia and Darren Criss as Adam. Here's an excuse to post Darren Criss pics a reminder:

Fine Print

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: Doubleday

Published: 2011
Get It: Book Depository

Related
While googling Darren Criss, I came across this piece of adorableness. My heart just about burst (in a good way). So. Darn. Cute.



Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Yep, I finally read If I Stay.

It's taken me this long because, while I picked it up last year, out of curiousity for the story of a girl who loses her family in a car crash and has to decide whether she wants to live or die - that curiousity wasn't strong enough to overcome my fear of being utterly depressed by it. So it sat languishing at the bottom of my TBR pile for months. And months. Then I started blogging, and Where She Went came out, and my feed was filled with ridonkulous amounts of praise for both novels. That motivated me to finally see what I was missing out on (and also the fact that SPOILER thanks to Where She Went reviews, I knew that Mia chose to stay and that assuaged my fears somewhat).

Which brings me to today. I started reading If I Stay on the bus this morning, and continued on the bus on the way home. Five hours later, I'm finished, and boy have I been on an emotional rollercoaster. Starting with dread (for what I knew was coming), climbing to love, love, love (for Mia, Mia's family, and especially for Adam), before rocketing down to despair and then, ultimately, smoothing out to a sense of hope. I was surprised to find that, like the blurb on the back says, the book IS actually life-affirming. Simply and elegantly told, with wonderful, realistic characters and raw, touching emotions, I absolutely loved If I Stay. So now I sit here, sad, but not utterly depressed - a good thing, for sure. But my mind is starting to go into overdrive thinking about what I've just read - not such a good thing considering it's about 10 minutes past my bedtime. Hopefully if I get all those thoughts out now they won't haunt my dreams. But Mia might. Teddy definitely will.

Rating: 4/5

Talking Points (Spoilers if you're still living under a rock and haven't read it yet)

• The scenes that got to me the most: The state of Mia's dad after the crash - I wanted to vomit. The flashback to Mia and her mum shopping while her mum was in labour with Teddy - in that scene, more than any other, I really "saw" Mia's mum and felt the full tragedy. Then, anything involving Teddy - the moment Mia realises he's gone, her urge to cuddle him and feel his curls and the realisation she never will again - oh, God, talk about pulling the heartstrings. Finally, the end, when Adam's begging Mia to stay and she makes her choice. Sigh.
• Speaking of Adam - OK, now I see what all the fuss is about. Swoon alert!
• The book definitely got me thinking about what would you do if, God forbid, you were faced with Mia's choice? I honestly couldn't answer. I like how the book ended; how Mia realised there was still a lot to live for and especially how by living, she could hold on to the memory of her family, but goodness, if I was in that position, I don't know if I could do it.
• I'm kinda glad it took me this long to read If I Stay, because now I can't wait to dive into Where She Went! I'm tempted to start now, but I really must be getting to bed...

Eye Candy

I know Mia is supposed to be a brunette, but the only person I could picture was Emma Stone in all her red-headed awesomeness (none of this blonde Emma)...

...Perhaps because the happy, quirky family scene that the book opened with instantly reminded me of Easy A (LOVE that movie).

As for Adam, well the first person who popped into my head was Adam Brody (maybe it was the name?), but then I remembered the creepy rock star he played in Jennifer's Body and I soon got rid of that image. Thankfully, Darren Criss quickly filled in. Not convinced he's a good Adam? How about this...

Look how hot he is with a guitar! If that isn't Adam, I don't know what is. What's that? You're still not sure?!

You asked for it! OK, I really just wanted an excuse to post this picture.



I don't need an excuse to post this one. Phwoar! Thankyou, Darren Criss, I no longer feel sad.

Fine Print
Genre: Young Adult
Get It: Book Depository

Challenge: Books I Should Have Read By Now