ONE releases TODAY!!!

Hello, fair blog readers!

I have some questions for you.

Do you like YA novels?

Do you like superheroes?

Do you like amazingly self-sufficient female protagonists?

Then I have good news! Leigh Ann Kopans' debut novel ONE releases TODAY!!!

With a cover that gorgeous, don't you just want to run and buy a copy? Of course you do!

ONE is the story of Merrin Grey, a girl with only one superpower in a world where you need two to actually accomplish anything - flame powers and the ability to heal your own skin, for instance, or the ability to float and then the ability to propel yourself forward. She thinks that if she can just land that internship at the Hub, the science research center where her parents work, she might just be able to "fix" her one-ness and solve all her problems. But then, of course, nothing is quite as it seems and no problem so big is so easily solve-able.

ONE is a little bit like X-Men meets The Incredibles with a super-sweet and incredibly well-portrayed love story to boot.

Trust me. You want to read this book.

You can find ONE here, here, and here. You should really check it out. Leigh Ann is a wonderful human being and a wonderful writer, and I think you'll really enjoy the story she's got to tell.

Book Review: ONE by Leigh Ann Kopans

So. Rewind to summer of 2012. I'm an intern at a literary agency in Manhattan, and I'm sitting at the intern table, reading queries, like any other afternoon, when the agent I work for pops over and says "hey Caitlin, I have this manuscript I'd like you to take a look at. The author emailed to say she had interest from another agent. It's YA, are you interested?" And, well, yes, of course I was.

That manuscript was ONE by Leigh Ann Kopans. And I devoured it that day at work. ONE is the story of Merrin Grey, a sixteen-year-old girl with half a superpower when most Supers have two. For instance, Merrin can float, but she doesn't have that second superpower that would allow her to push the air around her and fly. And Merrin, organic chemistry genius that she is, is determined to fix her One-ness.

Guys. This book is awesome. I knew immediately upon starting it just how awesome it was. I probably made a terrible report to my agent about it later (sorry Leigh Ann), since she asked me what I liked about it and I had to think of coherent things to say instead of just "uh... everything... I like just about everything, really... yeah..." Leigh Ann eventually signed with the other agent in question, however, so I think everything will work out nicely in her favor. 

ONE has all the makings of a great YA book. Fantastically intriguing sci-fi premise? Check. Reverse chosen-one thing for the protagonist? Check. Weird government conspiracy? Check. Excellent romance? OH MAN CHECK.

My favorite thing about this book, though, both during that first read-through and now, is Merrin herself. There are so, SO many sci-fi and fantasy YA books that I've read where the romance is the be-all and end-all of both the character and the story. Where the female protagonist is defined by her love of the wonderful, charming, handsome love interest. And Merrin is so very much not that kind of girl. There is a scene in the book in which she decides she can't lean on Elias, the love interest (who is an interesting, flawed, sweet character in his own right), until she can stand on her own two feet and I think I actually shouted "YES!!!" while I was reading that. In the office. (And even now, I grinned like an idiot on the bus rereading it.)

Merrin is exactly the kind of girl I'd like to see more of in YA novels - a girl not necessarily averse to falling in love, but one who knows that she shouldn't compromise herself in order to do that. She refuses to let Elias be her whole world - a big part of it, an important part, yes, but not ALL of it - even though just being with Elias will QUITE LITERALLY solve ALL OF HER PROBLEMS for her. But she wants to solve them herself. She wants to be her own person, not just an extension of someone she loves.

Leigh Ann is a fantastic writer - you can really tell just how much work and how much love she's put into this book - and someone I am glad to call my friend. Trust me, guys. You want to listen to this story she has to tell.

ONE comes out on June 11th. I'm so so super excited for Leigh Ann and I can't wait for it to get all the recognition it so richly deserves.

Book Review: Jennifer Donnelly, Historical Fiction Writer Extraordinaire

So I don't think I actually gushed to you guys about my love for this book:



In any case, REVOLUTION is an absolutely amazing French Revolution story. Jennifer Donnelly truly has a gift for weaving multiple stories together, and this is one of those few "modern-day character falls back into the past" stories that does not make me scoff a bit. She makes it work. And both of the protagonists in REVOLUTION, the one in modern-day and the one in 1795, are both written in such a beautifully tragic way. They are both so broken, but it comes across as poignant rather than whiny.

The other day, I just finished A NORTHERN LIGHT, Donnelly's first YA novel.



Good God, but can she write historical fiction. This book also displays Donnelly's amazing talent for weaving together seemingly disparate stories, in this case the real letters of Grace Brown, who was murdered in 1906 in the Adirondacks, and the fictional life of Mattie Gokey, a girl who has to balance her love of words and learning with her responsibilities to her dairy farming family. The story bends history very slightly, but the whole thing melds into a seamless narrative.

Mattie also showcases Donnelly's gift with words. She's the kind of author who makes you just want to drink in every single word she says, and reread various passages over and over because they are just so beautiful. This is a style that I long to reach in my own writing - her words are poignant, fluid, pitch-perfect; she can pull the beauty out of tragedy in a way that amazes me.

Seriously, guys, go read Jennifer Donnelly's books. She's also written three historical fiction books for adults, and the next time I get to go to the library, you can bet I'll be hunting those down.

Book Review: FOREVER

So, after a long wait thanks to inexplicable Amazon silliness, I finally got my hands on FOREVER, the final installment of Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy.

I've got to say, Maggie Stiefvater is truly fantastic at plotting out a series. With LINGER, my fears of second-book-syndrome being the inevitable follow up to SHIVER's gorgeous conclusion were smashed. And of course she continues from LINGER's cliffhanger to the perfect conclusion in FOREVER. It was exactly the kind of ending I like best - all the important things have been taken care of, but not wrapped up so neatly that it seems fake in all its shiny tidiness. It was bittersweet (beware page 374), but satisfying.

My one major complaint from LINGER was Cole St. Clair, and I liked him so much more in FOREVER. I'm not sure if I just came to terms with him or if it was that he was less of a jerk, but I was much happier to read the chapters in his pov.

Also: Grace and Sam are beyond adorable and I love them to bits. TO BITS I TELL YOU.

It's a very spoil-able book, so I don't want to say too much. But trust me, if you haven't read this yet, absolutely do. I'm sad to say goodbye to Mercy Falls, but this is exactly the way such an excellent series should end. Brava, Maggie Stiefvater, brava. I can't wait for THE SCORPIO RACES!

Book Review: THE REPLACEMENT

This is another book that I've been wanting to read since it came out (clearly I need to get up on this whole reading new releases thing. *shakes fist at schoolwork*), and another one that I found was definitely worth the wait.



There is a delightfully creepy atmosphere to this whole book, and I loved the idea that the whole town knows that something terrible is happening, but they ignore it, because they think in the long run it's helping them. And because the truth isn't something they want to look at too closely.

Mackie Doyle, however, can't escape that truth because that is what he is. He is a changeling who has somehow survived iron poisoning long enough to reach the age of sixteen, pretending to be normal and fade into the background.

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the way that changeling folklore was woven so neatly into small town America. Brenna Yovanoff found a way to make everything fit together so nicely, from Mackie's extreme discomfort riding in cars to the way he deals with his inability to follow his pastor father into church by pretending he's being rebellious to the places that the fairy folk are hiding underground. It was so seamlessly done, so well thought out, that there was never a moment where I thought "hang on, how does that work?" It all made perfect sense, as though it could really happen that way.

But my favorite thing about this book was Mackie himself. In spite of everything, in spite of how much he's suffering because of the iron, his feelings of guilt that he isn't really Malcom Doyle even though he pretends to be, and his desperate attempts to blend into the woodwork, Mackie is just so nice. He's one of those protagonists you just want to hug forever and promise them that it'll all turn out okay. Mackie's relationship with his sister Emma is just so lovely (and I really liked that Emma had a large role to play in the story, rather than just being a token family member). I'm seriously convinced that, as Maggie Stiefvater and Brenna Yovanoff are critique partners, they are planning to take over the world by first winning us all over with their nice-guy protagonists.

(In related news, I'm seriously excited for FOREVER, which comes out today. MUST GO TO BOOKSTORE.)

THE REPLACEMENT is truly a great read, one of those books where the setting is truly another character and sporting and ending that makes you go "oh, that's perfect!" This is definitely something to pick up the next time you're at a bookstore or a library.

Book Review: PLAIN KATE

The minute I heard about Erin Bow's PLAIN KATE, I knew I needed to read it. The idea of a girl woodcarver missing her shadow and going off to get it back with the help of a talking cat sounds like exactly my idea of a good book.

Also, this cover is gorgeous. I know judging books by their covers is not the way to go, but how can you not read a book with a cover this beautiful?



Fantastic cover is fantastic.

But, gorgeous covers aside, I finally got my hands on it, and boy was I right when I thought "I have to read this." PLAIN KATE is wonderful. Absolutely positively wonderful, and you need to go read it RIGHT NOW. (Unless you are currently in a public place. More on that later.)

The voice in this book is spot-on. It's as though Bow has crafted her own fairytale, and she does it well. Of course a story about granting wishes and missing shadows and talking cats would start "A long time ago, in a market town by a looping river, there lived an orphan girl called Plain Kate." Of course. And the language throughout the whole book is lyrical; I'm going to have to reread it soon so I can properly soak up every word without needing to hurry on ahead to find out what happens next.

I also loved the setting. It's one of those fantasy novels that takes place in a world so near our own you can almost recognize it - perhaps Eastern Europe roundabouts the 15th century. It is a time when everyone both loves and fears remarkable things, and poor Kate soon falls under the category of something to fear, because she is so skilled with her carving knife. There are gypsies (called Roamers rather than Roma, which I thought was clever and fitting) and witches and spells - the whole atmosphere is enchanting and eerie at the same time.

But the best part about PLAIN KATE is Kate herself and Taggle, her talking cat. Kate is a wonderful heroine, scared and lost and confused at times, but brave; she doesn't know how to fix things, but she knows how to survive and she's going to find a way to make things better. And Taggle is the most perfect talking cat. I have two cats myself, and I feel like Erin Bow must have cats as well, because Taggle is just so cat-like, rather than being a talking cat that sounds more like a human. I loved that half of his observations were about food. There is a moment when Taggle has been hurt and Kate is terribly worried about him:

She eased the cat off her shoulder, muttering, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Why? What for?" said Taggle. "Did I miss something? Was there food?"

Now, about the reading in public thing - I read PLAIN KATE during two babysitting sessions. For the second half, I was watching my cousin at the pool, and I had to look away every half-page and take several deep breaths to keep myself from bawling like a baby. I was seriously considering putting it down and finishing it in my room so I could cry over it and not look like a lunatic at the pool, but that really wasn't an option. Of course I had to finish it. There was no way I could put down a book as good as this one ten pages from the end, even if it meant getting a few strange looks from the kids on the tetherball court. PLAIN KATE is absolutely worth it.

I would recommend reading the ending someplace where you can have a good cry and not be embarrassed about it. But absolutely, definitely go read this book.

The Light in YA

So the Wall Street Journal kerfluffle is beginning to diminish (some noteworthy things to look at are NPR's fantastic article, the many many brilliant posts and blogs under the #YASaves tag, and the parody #YAKills tag. Hilarity!), but there was one more thing I wanted to mull over.

The article laments the lack of ANY lighthearted YA fiction. This is completely false. There is light YA, and there should be light YA. Like I said, the darkness is important (and even in the lighthearted books there has to be SOME measure of darkness... otherwise there would be no plot).

But sometimes after English class, when we read HAMLET and ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and MACBETH and HEART OF DARKNESS and THE SUN ALSO RISES, all sorts of grim and violent and depressing stuff, it's time to turn to something fun. Sometimes we just want something fun to read, and there are plenty of books out there that fit the bill.

I'm not saying that these fun books are "lesser" because they might not have big weighty issues in them, because that isn't true. Some of them have even appeared as Printz honor books. Fun and silliness is important, because there is darkness in the world, and we have to face that, but we have to learn to laugh, too.

So. Here is a list of some good old lighthearted YA. (At least, the ones I can think of.)

1. AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES - John Green
2. AIRBORN - Kenneth Oppel
3. ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS - Stephanie Perkins
4. LET IT SNOW - John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle
5. AVALON HIGH - Meg Cabot
6. SONG OF THE SPARROW - Lisa Ann Sandell
7. EAST - Edith Pattou
8. ALL AMERICAN GIRL - Meg Cabot
9. SORCERY AND CECELIA - Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
10. NOBODY'S PRINCESS - Esther Friesner
11. PRADA AND PREJUDICE - Mandy Hubbard
12. DEVILISH - Maureen Johnson
13. THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS - E. Lockhart
14. GOOD OMENS - Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett
15. THIRTEENTH CHILD - Patricia C. Wrede

What are some lighthearted YA books that you would recommend?

Book Review: ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS

Anyone who knows me well will think "Caitlin... Anna and the French Kiss? That doesn't really sound like a book you would enjoy..." Well, maybe it doesn't, but I have discovered recently that there are books out there that aren't "my type" that are still really excellent and therefore fun to read anyway.

Besides, the Internet was raving about this book. John Green was raving about this book. I had to get it and read it after praise like that.

And you know what? Anna and the French Kiss totally deserves all that praise. Anna is a witty and likable character who pulls you into the story from the very first page. I mean literally from the first page - the moment I started reading, I was so completely hooked that I stayed up until 3 am to finish the book. I loved her internal dialogue, her comments about how little she knew about France and her comments about getting to know it, the fact that she was a film afficionado and thus there was a Roman Holiday reference in the book. There were maybe one or two brief moments nearer the end where I wanted to roll my eyes and say "Gosh, Anna, it isn't all about you," but those moments passed quickly and I just kept flying through the pages.

Also, Etienne St. Clair, the designated love interest? Wow. He is just so great. And a history nerd! As a fellow history nerd, I loved all the moments when he would go off on a random history tangent. Although, perhaps one of the only things in the book that truly irked me was this: he is an American kid with a French name and a British accent (As Anna says when she meets him: "Anna confused."). Okay, fine - no better way to make your hero attractive than to give him a British accent. Fine by me! But occasionally (and, I thought, not really consistently) he would say "me" instead of "my." "I love me mum," and such. But nothing else about his speech patterns suggested a Cockney accent to me - and also, when you think "sexy British accent," Cockney does not tend to be at the top of the list, does it? It wasn't a big thing at all, but I found it slightly jarring.

I think my favorite part was the chapter composed of emails between Anna and Etienne; both their voices came out really clearly in those emails and it was JUST SO SWEET. To quote John Green, this book really is made of "sweetness and funny and awesome." If you were thinking of reading it, definitely do so. And if you were not thinking of reading it, well, you should start thinking about it.

Book Review: BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS

Today is my one-year blogversary, guys! Wow. I'm impressed with myself, are you? And so for my blogversary, I present to you a book review!

For Christmas, I asked for a copy of Anna Godbersen's BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS. My mom was surprised, since she thought it was an unusual request for me. I suppose it was, but I really wanted some YA historical fiction, which is actually quite difficult to find.

BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS is set during the summer of 1929, and that, I think, is what this book's strongest point is. The setting, especially at the beginning, is almost as much of a character as the people who populate it. Some of the descriptions of life in Manhattan and West Cove are really quite nice - nothing on GATSBY, of course, but then, few things are.

However, even though I am the biggest history geek on the East Coast, pretty descriptions of 1920s Manhattan can only get you so far, and unfortunately, this was one of those books where I lost interest partway through. The three main characters were essentially stereotypes, which was fine at the beginning, but when they remained stereotypes halfway through, it got a bit boring. Well, okay - Letty, the innocent one, remained extremely naive throughout the entire book. Cordelia, the clever one, made some wildly stupid decisions partway through. Astrid, the flirt, was really the only character with any depth, I thought, because it is clear from the get-go that her laid back, teasing persona is just a front. I liked Astrid; I wish there had been more of her.

The other thing that irked me was that this third-person novel began with a first-person flashback style prologue - which, fine, that can work, I've seen it before. But this prologue, however, is wholly unnecessary. It is not from the pov of any of the three main characters. It clearly refers to three girls in 1929, so for the first several chapters, I was trying to figure out where the fourth girl would come in, the one observing everything. Well, there isn't one.

Also, the end of the prologue says that by the end of the summer, one of the girls would be a star, one would be married, and one would be dead. I spent the whole book trying to figure that out - the one twist came when it looked like Cordelia would be the one to die, not Astrid - only to discover that there is a sequel (the only hint of which is in the author's jacket flap bio) and that I wasn't going to find out after all. I was really quite annoyed at having gone through 380-odd pages just to find out who dies, and in the end not finding out at all.

I have a feeling that this is a book that could be well enjoyed by others looking for a light read - I, however, thought it did not live up to the expectations set by the beginning. It's a shame, really - partly because YA historical fiction *is* really hard to come by, and partly because the beginning was really quite interesting.

Book Review: RECKLESS

Sorry for the lack of a teaser guys. My muse has well and truly deserted me, it seems, leaving me to stare at the ceiling and wait for it to return. It’ll come back. Eventually. No worries.

At any rate. For my birthday I received a copy of Cornelia Funke’s newest novel, RECKLESS. I got the chance to finish it before Thanksgiving break (which I was not anticipating: maybe this writer’s block is good for something after all? :P) and wow am I glad.

This book is marvelous. And I’m not just saying that because Cornelia Funke is one of my favorite authors (which she is; I love her work so much that I’m currently doing a whole Italian presentation (in Italian… memorized… irp!) on Venice just so I can talk a little bit about THE THIEF LORD). This book is really, really great, and I loved every second of it. I might have to reread it in the near future, as it was one of those “omgsogreatmustkeepturningpagestoseewhathappensnextohwaitdidIskipthatparagraph?” books.

There are two things that really stood out for me in this: worldbuilding and characterization. Both of them were superb.

Worldbuilding first. RECKLESS is all about Jacob Reckless, a man from our world who found a mirror-portal into another world. This other world is basically every fairy tale imaginable smushed into one place – and given a nasty twist. Everything is both beautiful and sinister at the same time. And Funke so seamlessly integrates each separate fairy tale – Sleeping Beauty’s castle, the golden ball from the Frog Princess, the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel – that it’s very plain that each piece belongs together in that world. It’s an absolutely fascinating concept.

Secondly, characterization. WOW. There are four main characters in the story – Jacob, his younger brother Will, Will’s girlfriend Clara, and Fox, a girl from the Mirrorworld who is able to transform into a fox and is Jacob’s constant companion. There are so many layers to each of these characters it’s unbelievable. Jacob, for example, began leaving his home world for the Mirrorworld at age 12, coming up with increasingly complex excuses, always covering his tracks, and in the Mirrorworld he’s a treasure hunter, skilled at fighting and bribery and theft. But then Will comes to the Mirrorworld and Jacob’s ruthless, cold façade starts cracking. Will is Jacob’s trusting brother, but he is wounded when he follows Jacob through the mirror and is literally turning to stone. Throughout the story all sorts of complexities arise due to tension with his oft-absent older brother and the things the stone is making him forget. Fox is one of those enigmatic characters Funke excels at – you never know everything about her, but you really want to find out. She chooses to spend most of her time as a fox instead of a human, which makes you wonder why. It also adds layer upon layer of problems regarding her relationship with Jacob. Clara starts out like a stereotypically innocent character, and just as I was beginning to think “Clara’s not as complex as the others,” BAM there’s a big secret for Clara to keep. It’s really fascinating.

If that’s not enough to interest you (and it should be), Funke did some really fabulous pencil illustrations for the first page of each chapter. They’re hauntingly beautiful, as is the whole book. Really, I think the only thing that could possibly annoy me about it was that the print was so large and the margins and space around each line so huge. Really? The main character’s 24, we can read slightly smaller print, thanks.

In all seriousness, though, this book is really fantastic. It was a great birthday present (thanks, Mom :) ) and you all should go read it RIGHT NOW.

Things for August

So, hallo blogsphere! (Apparently that's actually blogosphere, but I thing blogsphere sounds nicer, don't you?)

Guys, how did it get to be August already? Seriously, it seems like I was frantically pounding out the last pieces of Letters to Oliver only a few weeks ago - and that was in May! Time flies when it's summer...

I go back to school on the 23rd, and of course am excited to go back and have cool classes and be in the amazing place that is Ithaca and see all my friends. But I will miss home, and I am still enjoying summer very much, and I am taking two writing classes that I fear will grossly interfere with my personal writing time. Ah well. Such is life.

Anyway, a few random notes before returning to our normally scheduled programming.

The first is that the lovely and talented Vee of Ramblings of a Writer is having a contest! I have experienced her skill as a beta and would love one of those fifty-page critiques she's offering!

The second is regarding regularly scheduled programming. I have two more book reviews I might do (I Am the Messenger definitely; Starclimber maybe), as well as weekly teasers of course. I'm also feeling a post in the mode of Tahereh in the near future.

But I'm not making this blog for me (although comments are nice I love comments yaaaaay comments). I believe the whole point of putting content on the internet, whether it be Blogger or YouTube or what-have-you, is to start a discussion. To connect with people that don't live near you or share different views, people you would not ordinarily be able to talk to. To toss your ideas out and see what other people think.

So. My question to you is, what do you want to discuss?