I'm a blogger big sister!

A few months back I got asked to be part of a Blogger Big Sib/Little Sib program, and now I have a blogger baby sister. I'm so excited to introduce you to my little sis, Julia AKA...

Isn't she adorable?

She's a voracious reader who loves YA books and dinosaurs, and she's just started to carve out her niche in the blogosphere. She reads almost every genre, but sadlly doesn't share my deep love of the paranormal. Ahh well. We wouldn't be siblings if we were exactly the same. (Beside, I forgive her for being so misguided. *grin*)

I had the opportunity to chat with her on the phone recently, and she's pretty darn awesome. Very colorful and bubbly. Her blog also has great voice, which can be hard to find. I can't wait to get to know her better! Make sure you click on her banner above to visit her site and leave her some love. 

More Author Insight: The Public Eye

How do you balance life and writing and all the obligations that come with being an author?

"Just the idea that I'm 'out there' is enough to make me break out in hives. Again - shy little introvert, over here. The idea that people are talking about me and my work makes me very nervous, but I keep telling myself, "What other people think of you is none of your business." I'm slowly internalizing that." - Lia Habel, author of Dearly Departed.

"Not doing everything, because everything is too much.  If you lose energy for writing, your career is done, anyway.  I've had some tough times in the last year (my father died after a long illness) and I've had to say to myself on multiple occasions: slow down, stop worrying about every last detail, take a breath, go ahead and grieve, otherwise you'll lose the sweet mental space where you can actually write (I did lose it a few times)." - Geoff Herbach, author of Stupid Fast.

"All the lens solution that gets dumped on you every time the public eye needs to fix its contact. Seriously, the most difficult part is finding the right balance between the public activities (events, blogging, social media), writing, and one's personal life." - Sarah Beth Durst, author of Drink, Slay, Love.

"It requires a certain amount of bravado, I think, to assume that other people are interested in what you have to say. I don’t always feel terribly fascinating, or particularly qualified to give writing advice. I try to tweet or post about things that I think my friends would be interested in: cute dresses, amazing books I’m reading, how to juggle life with writing." - Jessica Spotswood, author of Born Wicked.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Release Date: November 15, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 352
Buy: Fountain Bookstore / Amazon
Description: Goodreads
Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

The one sentence review? Tahereh Mafi shattered me.

Quite honestly, Shatter Me totally blew me away, threw me for a loop, and crashed me right back down to Earth, only do it all over again. Everything about it- the characters, the story, the prose, the promise of what’s to come- totally worked for me. There was very little about this book that disappointed me. It was equal parts romantic, supernatural, and action-packed- a thrilling and successfully ambitious debut.

I immediately supported and liked Juliette. With as much as she had been through- abandoned and unloved by her parents, discarded by almost every person she ever met, locked up and isolated for almost a year- she was understandably broken. This could have easily become the thing that defined her, but she didn’t let it. She chose to keep her heart open. Despite everything she had been through, Juliette chose to believe that there was good in this new, desolate world. She never used her power to hurt others unless forced, even with the effect it has on her own physicality. She may not have been the best fighter, but she still fought for what she thought was the right side, and that was what mattered.

Juliette’s intense voice exploded from the page, right from the beginning. Mafi’s writing style was certainly unlike anything I’ve had the pleasure of reading. It was all extreme metaphor, aching simile, the wild and winding prose of Juliette’s inner monologue. Each description was so distinct and heart-breaking- it begged to be savored. You can literally flip to just about any page in the book and find something out of the ordinary- an unusual sentence structure, a peculiar comparison. Personally, I ate it right up. The voice matched the way I felt about Juliette as our heroine, matched what truly would be going on her in mind. My personal favorite part was the use of the strike-through. I’m not usually a fan of strike-through because I find it tends to distract from the point. In this case, it was used as a device to display another side of Juliette’s thoughts, the side she thinks she has to hide. The more confidence she built in herself, the more she learned to trust herself and the people she kept close, the more the strike-throughs faded. Very subtle. Loved it.

And speaking of the people she keeps close… Adam. Oh boy, Adam. I’m a sucker for a swoon-worthy love interest, and Adam completely fit the bill. He was sensitive but manly, strong yet sweet. He was the brightest hope for Juliette, a literal bird of freedom. And did I mention he was smoking hot? Like actual gasping for breath, knees knocking together hot. Adam’s hotness was well-documented, something that can pluck the nerves, but again, it fit with Juliette’s voice, so I didn’t mind. (Plus, hottie!) I don’t want to reveal too much but seriously? I won’t be surprised when he tops all the YA Heartthrob lists.

My one nitpick would be the ending. There was so much going on, all that what-will-possibly-happen-next kind of action, that when the ending finally came, it fell a little flat. Knowing that there are more books to come (YAY), it made sense to set up the new set of characters for #2. However, too many characters were introduced, giving the ending a cluttered, almost awkward feel. It was like, “Look at all these people you haven’t known or cared about for the past 300 pages! You love them now, okay?” I’m positive we will love them in Book #2, but I would have preferred it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, especially because there was an easy set-up for one. All of this aside, I do understand the reasoning behind it. And if that’s my only complaint, that’s impressive.

I think it’s beyond safe to say that the buzz around Shatter Me is deserved. It’s got fantastic writing, original and likeable characters, and a gripping story that keeps you turning the pages. I can’t wait to see what Tahereh Mafi hands us next.

Author Insight: The Public Eye

What is the most difficult part of keeping yourself and your book in the public eye?

 

"Writing a book people want to seek out. I am not one of those writers with the talent or inclination for self-promotion. My only strength is in my writing, such as it is. So my only hope of gaining fame is to keep writing. A lot. As well as I can." - Amy Kathleen Ryan, author of Glow.

"The fact that it is in the public eye at all is the hardest part to get used to. For so long, I was blogging and tweeting into the wind - which is like spitting into the wind, only less moist - and nobody took note. Now suddenly people are listening. So I have to watch more of what I say." - Brodi Ashton, author of Everneath.

"Do you mean trying to keep myself there, or trying to live with the eyes on you? Keeping myself there is an issue I’m still struggling with. Being there hasn’t been a problem so far. First off, there hasn’t been that much – nor will there be, if other author’s lives are any indication. But otherwise, I’m an amateur actress, so I love the attention and the limelight." - Anna Sheehan, author of A Long, Long Sleep.

"I think the biggest trick is in walking the line that divides persistent from annoying. No one likes someone who is "look at me" all the time. I think the way to get around that is to a) regularly promote people than yourself and b) spend most of your time not promoting anything at all just being funny, interesting, and honest. If you do that, I think people forgive you when it's time to promote your book." - Jeff Hirsch, author of The Eleventh Plague.

The Iron Knight Twitter Party

Julie Kagawa's Iron Knight releases tomorrow, and we're celebrating with a Twitter party that will take you right up to the official moment! Join Harlequin Teen, Julie, and a panel of Iron Fey-crazed bloggers tonight from 10p.m.-12a.m. EST to celebrate along with us.

There will be Team Ash/Team Puck/Team Grim questions, awesome giveaways, behind the scenes exclusives, and a super-special announcement from Julie. Victoria Schwab (The Near Witch), Saundra Mitchell (The Vespertine), Beth Revis (Across the Universe), and Christine Johnson (Claire De Lune) will all make special guest appearances throughout the night. Ash's never before seen letter to Meghan will also be revealed.

Here's what you need to know to follow the action...

 Hashtag: #IronKnightParty

Host: @HarlequinTeen

Julie Kagawa: @Jkagawa

Bloggers:

@wastepaperprose

@BookaliciousPam

@ABennettBooks

@PageTurnersBlog

Learn more about the Iron Fey series at http://www.ironfey.com/. Hope to see you at the party tonight!

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

Release Date: October 12, 2010
Paperback Release: August 2, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: E-book
Source: Purchased
Pages: 416
Series: Bright Young Things #1
Buy: Fountain Bookstore / Amazon
Description: Goodreads
The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties.

Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star…

Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for . . . and someone will.

The only person Cordelia can trust is Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets.

Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age.

I’ve had a fairly hard time figuring out how to review Bright Young Things. It’s not that I didn’t like it. It’s more that I have few strong feelings about it one way or another. There were portions that I enjoyed, like descriptions of the gorgeous 1920’s attire or the different vibe from an older New York; other portions, not so much. So, let’s go through this by singling out each of Anna Godbersen’s threesome: Cordelia Grey, Letty Larkspur, and Astrid Donal.

Cordelia’s story gave me the strongest feelings of any of the plots in Bright Young Things. She came to New York to confront famous bootlegger Darius Grey, claiming to be his daughter. Without so much as a call to the 1920’s Maury Povich, he accepted her. Immediately, I questioned this, wondering why Darius never said or did anything throughout the rest of the novel to officially prove that he was, in fact, Cordelia’s father. However, I did value the time she spent with her father once he took her into his extravagant home. What angered me more about Cordelia’s tale, though, was her relationship with rival bootlegger’s son Thom Hale. Cordelia established herself as a head-strong girl who couldn’t be tamed, but the moment she began to think with her heart instead of her head it proved to be disastrous. Her story has a ton of unanswered questions for the follow-up novel entitled Beautiful Days, especially pertaining to her all-but-forgotten husband back in Ohio, so I look forward to seeing just how that plays out.

Letty did not win me over the way I thought she would at this story’s beginning. She traveled from Ohio to Manhattan with her best friend Cordelia as a poor country girl with a large talent, naively hoping that she would magically become the next Mary Pickford. It was this naivety that drove me a little batty, to be honest. So much of her character arc developed too predictably for me- everything from her friendship with the obviously-gaga-for-her Grady to her oblivious acceptance to “perform solo” for a well-known theater owner and lothario unfolded quite obviously to me. I tried to warn her, but that was the reading equivalent of yelling, “Don’t go check in the basement!” to the blonde baby-sitter in a slasher film. Part of this is because, growing up so many decades after these events would take place, I have the curse of knowledge. Hopefully, Letty will learn from her past mistakes, grow a bit, and win me over yet.

While Astrid did not appeal to me as a narrator at her beginning, she grew on me over the course of Bright Young Things. Her spoiled tendencies and elitist attitude raked my nerves, but as I read on, I started to feel pity for the girl who, quite frankly, didn’t have anyone that truly cared about her. Her only family was her debutante mother, and she was too busy husband hopping (or new husband shopping) to notice anyone but herself, and her boyfriend Charlie Grey was far too self-absorbed. When she found a stray earring in Charlie’s room, I thought we were looking at a simple case of Sleazy Cheater Boyfriend, but I liked how this arc took an unexpected turn. I also liked her relationship with Cordelia, mostly because a genuine girl like Cordelia would be the best kind of person for Astrid to befriend. I am most interested to see how Astrid’s story develops in Beautiful Days.

Overall, while not my favorite, Bright Young Things managed to entertain me, and I think it would make an excellent Saturday afternoon movie. Moreover, it made me ache for a wardrobe filled with seamed stockings, adorable shoes, tweed cloches, and swishy dresses. I now anticipate the continuing adventure of these three dames (and someone to accompany me on a vintage dress shopping spree).