Tina B.
Congratulations! I'll pass your information along to the publisher, and they'll get these audiobooks out to you ASAP. Thanks to everyone who entered and to Simon & Schuster for offering up this awesome prize pack.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
Release Date: June 12, 2012
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Pages: 398
Buy: Amazon / Book Depository / IndieBound
Description: Goodreads
Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.
Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot’s estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.
But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret—one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she’s lost him forever.
Inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.
Sometimes, when you least expect it, a story comes along that latches onto your heart and won’t let go. It’s delightful and heart-breaking, perfectly gut-wrenching, and it’s exactly what you need at exactly that moment. That’s how I feel about For Darkness Shows the Stars, Diana Peterfreund’s retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, with a dystopian sci-fi twist.
Elliot North is a Luddite, meaning she was raised to follow a certain set of protocols in order to keep herself safe from genetic experimentation, so her generation doesn’t become like the Reduced. Her best friend Kai is a Post-Reduction offspring, and he has dreams of becoming more than just the mechanic to the North estate like his father before him. Four years ago, Kai left, and Elliot didn’t go with him. Now he’s back as Captain Malakai Wentworth, bringing his impressive record and a fleet of friends with him. Elliot has some secrets of her own, a room full of them in the barn where she and Kai used to pass their time and pass each other letters, and these secrets can change her entire life as well as the lives of everyone on the North estate. Can Elliot and Kai forget the past, forgive the mistakes of what’s already happened? Can Elliot finally stand up to her Luddite-to-the-core father?
Friday, June 15, 2012
BEA Recap Part 2
The old adage "it's a marathon, not a sprint" totally applies to Book Expo America, and after two days of warm-up the endurance test began. Up before the sun, and don't stop till your feet fall off. Re-attach and repeat.
By 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning the line to get into the Exhibit Hall at the Javits Center was longer than anyone in our group had ever seen it, at least at that hour. Excitement combined with the fact that some highly anticipated titles, including The Diviners by Libba Bray and The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, were dropping that morning contributed to the extra-long entrance queue.
Jessica and I wound up in two different lines to get in and were like speeding trains passing each other for at least the first hour. When I finally encountered her again, she looked like this:
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| Baby's first BEA. Awww... |
Carnival of Souls mask and The Great Meat Cookbook apron. *sigh* And only an hour or so into the expo.
We all buzzed about that morning snagging books that dropped. Stacey, Wes and I wound up in Ruta Sepetys line at the Penguin booth to get Between Shades of Gray signed and pick up a super-early advance copy of Ruta's next book, Out of the Easy. Emily was supposed to be in line with us but was detained on the other side of the Javits. Luckily, Wes was there and able to get a copy for her. Emily was so thrilled she texted me something to the effect of: "I will kiss him!" Wes' equally emotional response can be seen to your left. Jess, John Green fan girl extraordinaire, had a mostly silent freak-out when she saw him pass by. On finally approaching him, did she profess her undying love for his work? Nope. She said star penis. (Click it and read the whole story. You know you want to.) It must have made an impression though, because she made John's BEA video.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
More Author Insight: Written Off
What genre of fiction do you read and respect but would never write?
"There are genres I admire and haven't written for…yet. I have trouble saying I would "never write" in a specific genre. If I enjoy a particular genre, the odds are I'll at least try to write in it someday. I never thought I would write a thriller, but then I wrote I Hunt Killers, for example." - Barry Lyga, author of I Hunt Killers.
"I love and am in awe of dystopian and paranormal etc…but I cannot do it. I try and it just comes out very silly." - Huntley Fitzpatrick, author of My Life Next Door.
"Hmm. Nothing, actually. I like to blend genres in my books, so any genre I love is up for grabs!" - C.J. Redwine, author of Defiance.
"'Never' is a big word. 'Never' applies to the genres I don’t read. Every genre I read is something I hate to say I’d never do." - Lissa Price, author of Starters.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Waiting on Wednesday (14)
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine
that highlights eagerly anticipated books.
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| Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield |
An arresting un-coming-of-age story, from a breathtaking talent
Becca has always longed to break free from her small, backwater hometown. But the discovery of an unidentified dead girl on the side of a dirt road sends the town--and Becca--into a tailspin. Unable to make sense of the violence of the outside world creeping into her backyard, Becca finds herself retreating inward, paralyzed from moving forward for the first time in her life.
Short chapters detailing the last days of Amelia Anne Richardson's life are intercut with Becca's own summer as the parallel stories of two young women struggling with self-identity and relationships on the edge twist the reader closer and closer to the truth about Amelia's death.
Why can't I wait?
A coming of age story told from the alternating viewpoints of poor dead girl Amelia Anne Richardson's in her last days and the summer of smalltown "prisoner" Becca. The description sounds simultaneously gorgeous, haunting, and a little Twin Peaks-ian; therefore, I am so very intrigued. Nothing like a good creepy summer read.
BEA Recap Part 1
Book Expo America is crazy on steroids. That's the only way to explain it, although a written and pictorial account of the insanity follows.
No matter how many times I go (and this is year three for me), it's always an absolute whirlwind. If the show itself isn't enough to overwhelm you, throw in a break-neck pace and a healthy dose of chaos and voila! Crazy cupcake with drama icing. And I mean that in the best way possible!
It all kicked off last Sunday when I crawled in the car around 7 a.m. after roughly three hours of sleep and took to I-95. After two hours, just south of D.C., I picked up Jessica. Forty more minutes and one state line later, Wes joined the party. Both were caffeinated and thankfully Wes' general apathy about, well, everything negated Jess' particular brand of perky.
Don't worry. Six hour car rides and living in a shoebox for a week will really bond you. We were still friends by the end of the conference, see?
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| Jess, Wes and Susan AKA The Wastepaper Prose Team. |
Fast forward through a lot singing which Wes deftly ignored by sleeping, and we made it to the hotel without incident. Once we arrived, the hotel staff informed Jess several times that it was a very small hotel. The statement was a constant reprise and seemingly their answer everything. They weren't lying either. The hotel was so small that you couldn't walk a circle on any floor because the elevator was in the way. The rooms weren't much better. Members of our room block came to refer to them affectionately as our cubicles.
Once we settled in, we collected Stacey, Monica and her sister Jessika and headed out into the city to get a meal despite the drizzly weather. Enter the Skylight Diner and an obscene amount of bacon. Pancakes and bacon. Bacon cheeseburgers. Even a napoleon with a side of bacon. Apparently bacon is BEA fuel.
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