Waiting on Wednesday (57)

Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid

Release Date: July 29, 2014

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Author Website: http://www.somewhereoverthesun.com/

Pre-order: Amazon / IndieBound / Barnes & Noble

Five strangers. Countless adventures. One epic way to get lost. 

Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named LEILA. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most. 

There's HUDSON, a small-town mechanic who is willing to throw away his dreams for true love. And BREE, a runaway who seizes every Tuesday—and a few stolen goods along the way. ELLIOT believes in happy endings…until his own life goes off-script. And SONIA worries that when she lost her boyfriend, she also lost the ability to love. 

Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila's own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth— sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way.

Why can't I wait?
Road trip books are basically one of my favorite things to read, especially in the summer time.  Crank up the tunes, roll down the windows, and let's get lost.

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su & Kate Rorick

Release Date: June 24, 2014
Publisher: Touchstone
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 400
Buy: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / IndieBound
Description: Goodreads
Based on the Emmy Award-winning YouTube series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

Twenty-four-year-old grad student Lizzie Bennet is saddled with student loan debt and still living at home along with her two sisters-beautiful Jane and reckless Lydia. When she records her reflections on life for her thesis project and posts them on YouTube, she has no idea The Lizzie Bennet Diaries will soon take on a life of their own, turning the Bennet sisters into internet celebrities seemingly overnight.

When rich and handsome Bing Lee comes to town, along with his stuck-up friend William Darcy, things really start to get interesting for the Bennets--and for Lizzie;s viewers. But not everything happens on-screen. Lucky for us, Lizzie has a secret diary.

The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet takes readers deep inside Lizzie's world and well beyond the confines of her camera--from the wedding where she first meets William Darcy to the local hangout of Carter's bar, and much more. Lizzie's private musings are filled with revealing details about the Bennet household, including her growing suspicions about her parents'; unstable financial situation, her sister's budding relationship with Bing Lee, the perils of her unexpected fame, and her uncertainty over her future--and whom she wants to share it with.

Featuring plenty of fresh twists to delight fans and new readers alike, The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet expands on the web series phenomenon that captivated a generation and reimagines the Pride and Prejudice story like never before.

So here’s the thing about my review of The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet aka the book version of the internet series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: you already know what I’m going to say.  I adored LBD in an intense and real way—for example, when the very last Q&A video appeared, I wasn’t home, and I watched the video on my phone on a street corner in northwest DC because I literally couldn’t take another step until I saw what happened next.  I’ve been looking forward to the book “adaptation” for a while now, just to get some more information on my beloved characters and delve even deeper into the world of the Bennet sisters.  While I flew through this book like Darcy flew to Lydia’s rescue (hee) and while I would recommend this book to any fan of the LBD such as me, I have one glaring issue with it.

This is not a diary.

There are portions of this secret “diary” that read as though it is what the title proclaims.  Lizzie shares some secrets that she wouldn’t say aloud on her videos, and we do get a respectable amount of backstory and, shall we say, closure.  However, far too often, the narrative switches from epistolary (which it should be) to a first person narrative.  

It starts in the very first entry, when Lizzie mentions her bestie Charlotte and writes this: “‘Hostile laundry takeover?’ she asked knowingly.”  I actually looked up from the book and said aloud, “Who writes like that in their own diary?”  It took me right out of the story, because it didn’t feel authentic.  I was able to ignore this quirk after a few entries (though some instances of format flip-flopping were more blatant than others) by making the mental decision to read this as Lizzie’s story in book form rather than Lizzie’s personal diary.  I made a good choice.

Once I could overlook the narration issue, I enjoyed this a lot more.  The book answers basically every lingering question I still had about the webseries while enhancing moments that I never gave much thought to before.  (I’ll never watch that Netherfield arc in the same way.)  My personal favorite was the actual story of the Lizzie and the Darcys’ “epic tour” of San Francisco.  Followers of the award-winning transmedia event of the SF tour remember the photos well, but having the words makes it sweeter than a sundae at Ghirardelli Square.

Even with my narrative hang-up, I would still recommend The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet to any fan of the webseries from which it spawned.  If you haven’t seen the series yet, I would doubly recommend getting your own copy of the book—specifically, the enhanced e-book, which includes links to all of Lizzie’s videos (though, none of the spin-offs like THE Lydia Bennet or the Domino launch).  Now, it’s back to the fanfiction until we get more bonus videos.

Release Days Round-Up: June 29 - July 5

New Releases

In Paperback

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Release Date: May 13, 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: E-book
Source: Publisher
Pages: 225
Buy: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / IndieBound
Description: Goodreads
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
 
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

I have an unofficial word count for my reviews here, and I get the feeling this one will be decidedly shorter than usual.  This is not because I do not have anything to say about the gorgeous We Were Liars; in fact, it’s quite the opposite.  I have tons I’d like to say.  I’d like to have an all-night gabfest about all the things I think about this story and all the things I haven’t thought of yet.  I read the last words of the novel 8 hours ago, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

However, at a recent event, E. Lockhart began to tell the people in the audience about this book, and after she talked for a while, she pointed out that she had told us all who the characters are but nothing about what they do, by request of her publisher.  This “please no spoilers” mandate interested me for a lot of reasons, mostly because that is kind of rare.  What’s even rarer is that I hadn’t heard one peep about what the big twist was, except that it existed.  I was able to dive into Cadence’s story completely unspoiled, and I am all the better for it.

So, I would like for anyone reading this review who hasn’t yet experienced We Were Liars to remain unspoiled as well.  You’ll be all the better for it too!

But now, what can I say without giving everything away?

Thankfully, I can talk about E. Lockhart’s writing and style for hours and hours without giving away one piece of the plot.  Dearie me.  I do not like to mark up my books at all, but at page 16, I was tempted to highlight and underline a sentence that was so beautiful it practically knocked me out.  I do not want to repeat it here (as River Song would say, Spoilers!) but I thought it was nearly perfect in its content and tone.  Throughout the novel, the writing style continued to blow me away, which I fully expected but somehow didn’t expect it to this extent.  This is my first E. Lockhart, but it very certainly will not be my last.

The stylistic writing works to enhance the plot as well.  At times, I felt that certain elements of the story were pretty far-fetched and over-reaching.  However, when it reads like this, I can easily accept anything and move on quickly.   I’ll suspend my disbelief for art, thank you very much.

I don’t think I can really say much more, so I’ll just say that this is a one-of-a-kind read that I would highly recommend.  Come for the plot twist, stay for the delectable words.  No lie, We Were Liars is something special.

Release Days Round-Up: June 22-28

New Releases

In Paperback

Audiobook Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Release Date: Jan. 10, 2012
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Length: 7 hrs, 14 mins
Buy: Amazon /
Barnes & Noble / IndieBound
Description: Goodreads
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

A beautifully heartbreaking story of living in spite of the sometimes ugly truths of life, The Fault in Our Stars is an emotional reminder that pain and pleasure often walk hand in hand, but that doesn't make living any less worthwhile.

This novel strikes countless chords that will resonate deeply with a wide range of people. It runs the gamut of emotion, veering so hard at times that you will have barely stopped laughing when you find yourself deteriorating into a sobbing heap of a person.

For the record, I should say I am not a crier. An author friend once called me a "soulless harpy" due to my stoicism. But congratulations John Green! You reduced me to a tearful mess while driving the New Jersey Turnpike.

(PSA: The Fault in Our Stars audiobook is a potential hazard
to motorists everywhere. Please use caution when listening.)

As Hazel notes about her favorite novel, "it's not a cancer book because cancer books suck." Not to be obvious, that's also true about The Fault in Our Stars. Illness is a factor, but it's not the focus of Hazel and Gus's story. Their's is a tale of savoring time, moment by moment, because right now may be all anyone has.

Delivery absolutely made this book for me. The insightful intellectual banter and wit along with the

Both Hazel and Gus are realists when it comes to living with cancer, but they cope with their realities by refusing to give cancer a starring role in their lives. For Hazel, it's a darker side of self or a an evolutionary process gone awry, treated without blame. Gus handles it with an almost self-deprecating humor. Isaac is unabashedly direct and darkly comical about his condition.

It's rare that I feel a single narrator does multiple characters justice, but Kate Rudd does an outstanding job. She has a subtle way of lending personality to each character. Thanks to her masterful interpretation of this cast, I will forever hear the words of The Fault in Our Stars in her voice.

Telling you, dear readers, to immediately go devour this moving novel would be unnecessary since I know so many of you have already read it. Though I will urge those who haven't and those of you itching for a reread to plug into the audiobook. Without a doubt, it's one of my favorite listens of all time.