Ruby Red Winner

I'm thrilled to be giving away a copy of Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier today to someome I know has been eagerly anticipating it. How do I know you might ask? She wrote a comment in the address block of the submission form telling me that she'd heard good things and couldn't wait to get her hands on a copy of this book. Well, her enthusiasm was rewarded by the mystical powers of Random.org. 

And the winner is...

Elle S.

Congratulations! I have forwarded your information on to the publisher that will be sending out the book. Thanks to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for allowing me to host this giveaway and to everyone who entered. There are more giveaways coming soon.

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion



Release Date: April 26, 2011
Publisher: Atria
Age Group: Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 256
Buy: Fountain Bookstore / Amazon
Description: Amazon
R is a young man with an existential crisis--he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. His ability to connect with the outside world is limited to a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing.

After experiencing a teenage boy's memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and stragely sweet relationship with the victim's human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His choice to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Warm Bodies is a strange and wonderful merger of the sick and twisted and the sweet and poignant. It is a gritty, graphic love letter to life penned by a dead man relearning what it truly means to be alive.

Isaac Marion's debut novel will forever change the way you think of zombies. In a matter of pages, I had almost forgotten that R was one. (And no, he's not some hot guy who just happens to be deceased. He groans and shambles.)The set-up to this novel is so well done that I bought in instantly. Instead of seeing R and his kind as "zombies" and the living as "people" I found it easy to subscribe to R's worldview.

Zombies are the Dead. Everyone else is Living. Pulse or not, they are all human.

That was what amazed me about this book. Believability was never an issue. Through R and Julie's friendship it became easy to see both sides as a struggle for survival. The curse is at fault. It is the root cause of R's condition and Julie's misery. It has ruined the world they share and made for a bleak existence.

The world and characters Marion has created force you as a reader to question what makes us human. Is it as simple as a state of being? Is the ability to articulate and outwardly express emotion what defines us as people? Does having a pulse make you any more or less human?

Well, read it and find out...

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Release Date: February 8, 2011
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 240
Buy: Fountain Bookstore / Amazon
Description: Fountain Bookstore
The small town of Cryer’s Cross is rocked by tragedy when an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. Kendall Fletcher wasn’t that friendly with the missing girl, but the angst wreaks havoc on her OCD-addled brain.

When a second student goes missing—someone close to Kendall’s heart—the community is in an uproar. Caught in a downward spiral of fear and anxiety, Kendall’s not sure she can hold it together. When she starts hearing the voices of the missing, calling out to her and pleading for help, she fears she’s losing her grip on reality. But when she finds messages scratched in a desk at school—messages that could only be from the missing student who used to sit there—Kendall decides that crazy or not, she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t act on her suspicions.

 Something’s not right in Cryer’s Cross—and Kendall’s about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried.

Turn the first page, enter the town of Cryer's Cross, and go on faith. It's worth it.

Before I picked up my copy of this book to start reading, I had seen a lot of 4 and 5-star reviews popping up on Goodreads and blogs. That got me really amped up to read it, so I settled back one night, dove in and waited for that good old reading magic to happen.

McMann's unflowery writing style, the intense detail, and deliberate repetition as well as the worldbuilding kept me intrigued and plowing ahead. Cryer's Cross, Montana, was so well-defined that I could picture it my head. The tiny farming community, the one-room high school, the fields and the people. Hector ans Mr. Greenwood sitting on the porch of the general store was a scene that's very familiar to me. (Except where I'm from you hang out at the local pharmacy/grill.) Those things and faith alone urged me forward.

But at about the half-way point I was still waiting for something to really kick-start the plot. I had been promised paranormal after all and at this point it was more of a psychological thriller in the making.

Then, right at the mid-point, it felt like a gunshot went off and it was a race to the finish. That was when Cryer's Cross became bone-chillingly creepy. The town itself shifted. It transformed slowly from a quaint farming community into a darker, more sinister place full of secrets buried deep. Tension built, my chest got tight, and I was flipping pages to so fast that I feared papercuts. I was up until 3a.m. because I couldn't bear to put it down with mere chapters left.

I was blown away when I finally let go of this book. Images and voices from this novel haunted me for days afterwards. I was disturbed, creeped out and somewhat scared to go to bed, and thoroughly satisfied.

The characters were interesting and well-developed, particularly Kendall and Jacian. The build of their relationship is never rushed and is entirely beautiful. Kendall's best friend Nico is the one character I wished had been more fully developed because I wanted to connect with him and didn't. I can't say more for sake of spoilery, but luckily the emotion is well-conveyed through other characters around him. There are also characters that I never expected to be fleshed out much who were. Turn's out there's a linchpin to this story that you might miss if you aren't looking close enough.

Needless to say, there is now a finished copy of this on my shelves.

Pink by Lili Wilkinson

Release Date: February 8, 2011
Publisher: Harper Teen
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 320
Buy: Fountain Bookstore / Amazon

Description: Fountain Bookstore
Ava has a secret. She is tired of her ultracool attitude, ultra-radical politics, and ultrablack clothing. She's ready to try something new—she's even ready to be someone new. Someone who fits in, someone with a gorgeous boyfriend, someone who wears pink.

 Transferring to Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence is the perfect chance to try on a new identity. But just in case things don't work out, Ava is hiding her new interests from her parents, and especially from her old girlfriend.

 Secrets have a way of being hard to keep, though, and Ava finds that changing herself is more complicated than changing her wardrobe. Even getting involved in the school musical raises issues she never imagined. As she faces surprising choices and unforeseen consequences, Ava wonders if she will ever figure out who she really wants to be.

Pink  is the perfect book for anyone who has every struggled to find where they fit.

I'm normally not a fan of contemporary young adult fiction or contemporary anything fiction for that matter. Well, I think I've been converted and am ready to welcome more contemporary onto my bookshelf thanks to Lili Wilkinson's American debut.

Ava, who is desperately searching for self, leaves her school for a more academic and progressive environment, but rigor isn't her real motivation. She wants the chance to reinvent herself, to wear pink and date boys and see what it's like to finally be part of the in-crowd. She's instanted accepted but a strange twist of fate places her squarely between two groups - the perfect Pastels and the outcast Screws.

The first think thst struck me about this book is how surprisingly intellectual it is. Not only is the plot smart, the characters are quick and intelligent as well. Some of this stems from the fact that Ava attends the Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence, but no matter whether she is hanging out with her girlfriend Chloe, the Pastels or the Screws, the conversation is clever. Debates about things like the etimology of the word "homosexual" and the idea that pink doesn't actually exist within the color spectrum had me laughing out loud. (That's probably years of inner nerd coming out.) I was genuinely impressed with the depth of characterization, the careful crafting of each groups dynamics, and the development of Ava's relationship with the members of each group.

One of my favorite things about this book is Sam. All of the characters individual stories resonated with me, but I connected with Sam. He's not a popular kid and doesn't try to be. He knows his strengths and weaknesses and is comfortable with his flaws. When Ava firsts meets him it's trial by fire. She has to prove that she is more than just a pretty face. That she has substance. I don't think I've ever fallen for a YA guy as hard as I fell for Sam.

Ava's a different person with each group, which felt entirely believable to me because she feels she has to be to fit in with Chloe, the Pastels and the Screws. But she isn't the only one who is hiding bits of herself in a quest for social acceptance. Her journey is one of reconciliation, not with any particular person, but with herself. Pink is a novel about being real and accepting who you are even if you don't exactly know who that is yet.

Uncovered: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

The cover of Myra McEntire's debut novel, Hourglass, was revealed today! It's eyecatching, isn't it?  I like it a lot for reasons I can't quite explain and maybe it's because I have yet to read the book. I know that's lame to say but it just has a certain je ne sais quoi. It would definitely make me take a second look it it was face out on the shelves.

What do you think? Leave it in the comments!

Also visit Myra's blog and leave her some cover love. There's a link below.

Read Myra's post and the back cover copy on her newly redesigned blog  HERE.

Coming May 24, 2011 from EgmontUSA.

Uncovered: Trial by Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Have you seen the cover for Trial by Fire (Raised by Wolves #2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes? I like how it mirrors the first book, but I'm not entirely sold on the red.

What do you think? Leave it in the comments!

Coming from Egmont USA on June 14, 2011!

Uncovered: Forever by Maggie Stiefvater (UK)

I think this is my favorite UK cover for a Wolves of Mercy Falls book yet! Maggie Stiefvater shared this cover for Forever, the third book of the trilogy, this afternoon. The rose and the rain or tears... I had no words when I saw it.

The US cover is amazing as well, and it's my favorite of those covers. In a head to head match up I'm not sure whih cover takes it. It's just too close to call. For now I'll say UK, but I guess I'll have to wait until I see

 the finished copies to make the final call.

What does everyone else think?

In Maggie Stiefvater's SHIVER, Grace and Sam found each other. In LINGER, they fought to be together. Now, in FOREVER, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.

Coming July 12, 2011 from Scholastic.

Uncovered: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Michelle Hodkin unveiled the cover of her debut novel The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer earlier today and it's beyond gorgeous! I wanted to read it before, but now I cannot wait to see what's inside.

Tell me what you ladies and gents think... (But honestly, how could you not love it?)

Mara Dyer believes life can’t get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. There is.

She definitely doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.

Coming September 27, 2011 from Simon & Schuster.