In My Mailbox

This week was a big, great week in books! Thanks to the Story Siren for starting this awesome meme!

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As You Wish by Jackson Pearce

Ever since Viola's boyfriend broke up with her, she has spent her days silently wishing--to have someone love her again and, more importantly, to belong again--until one days she inadvertently summons a young genie out of his world and into her own. He will remain until she makes three wishes.

Jinn is anxious to return home, but Viola is terrified of wishing, afraid she will not wish for the right thing, the thing that will make her truly happy. As the two spend time together, the lines between master and servant begin to blur, and soon Jinn can't deny that he's falling for Viola. But it's only after Viola makes her first wish that she realizes she's in love with Jinn as well...and that if she wishes twice more, he will disappear from her life--and her world--forever.

Ever since I heard about this one, I knew I had to read it. I mean, genies? How awesome is that? The plot kind of even sounds like Coffeehouse Angel to me a bit. I'm so excited to begin. Happy release, Jackson!

Alphas by Lisi Harrison

At OCD the losers are tormented.

At Alpha Academy, they're sent home.

Skye Hamilton has scored an invitation to the ultra-exclusive Alphas-only boarding school where beta is spelled LBR. What happens when the country's best, brightest, and hawtest begin clawing and scratching their way to the top?

I loved the Clique series by Lisi, so the day this came out, I dashed to Barnes & Noble. I am so excited to begin--hopefully it's as good as the Clique! Plus I love a light, funny, and creative read...So double-yay!

A Taste for Red by Lewis Harris

Do you prefer the taste of red foods? Do you sleep under your bed? Do you read people's thoughts? Do you think you're a vampire?

Svetlana Grimm does. And it's making her transition to sixth grade at Sunny Hill Middle School even more difficult. After all, what can someone with her extrasensory powers possibly have in common with a classroom full of jellybean eaters? Things get interesting, though, when Svetlana's beautiful science teacher, Ms. Larch, begins reading her thoughts. Could Ms. Larch be a vampire, too?

But the thrill of finding another of her kind quickly vanishes when strange "accidents" start happening. Svetlana is always the intended victim, and her teacher is always nearby. So if she and Ms. Larch aren't allies, then that means...

Sunny Hill Middle School is about to become a very dangerous place for Svetlana Grimm.

Thank you so, so much to Lewis, who also sent me a copy of the audio book! This sounds great--an evil vampire science teacher? I love the sound of it!

Sphinx's Princess by Esther Friesner (September 22)

Nefertiti may be the dutiful daughter of a commoner, but her inquisitive mind often gets her into situations that are far from ordinary, like receiving secret lessons from a scribe. And she's the kind of girl who acts first, and apologizes later whenever she witnesses injustice or cruelty. But she is also extraordinarily beautiful. And news of her striking beauty and impulsive behavior attracts the attention of her aunt, the manipulative Queen Tiye, who sees Nefertiti as an ideal pawn in her desire for power. Even though Nefertiti is taken from her beloved family and forced into a life filled with courtly intrigue and danger, her spirir and mind will not rest. She continues to challenge herself and the boundaries of ancient Egyptian society.

Wow, this book looks so cool! I'm not a big historical fiction fan, but I've always loved ancient Egypt and mythology. Thanks to Random House.

The Fatal Child by John Dickinson

Ambrose, Prince Under the Sky, is haunted by the ominous words of his ancestor . He shuns his rightful throne and remains in the desolate wastelands, a ragged an hidden king, searching for the secret that will lift the curse of a weeping goddess.

Then one day a young princess comes to him, a girl so enchanting, so beautiful, that his life is no longer his own. For her, Ambrose will leave his wandering existence and set out to meet his fate.

This is apparently the final part of a trilogy, and I'm hesitant to read a book that I haven't read the previous two books to! However, the plot sounds intriguing. Check it out...The Fatal Child is released on September 8th by David Fickling Books, an imprint of Random House!

Slumgirl Dreaming by Rubina Ali w/ Anne Berthod & Divya Dugar (September 8, 2009)

This is the inspiring true story of the nine-year-old who captured hearts worldwide in her role as the young Latika in the multi-Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. Plucked from among five hundred slum kids who auditioned for the film, she saw her fairy-tale dream of stardom come true. Now that she has stepped into the limelight, what will life hold for a young girl from the Mumbai slums?

Wow-this story sounds so amazing, I'm really very eager to begin. I have yet to see Slumdog Millionaire, but Rubina's story seems so inspiring and sad. I look forward to beginning. I couldn't find a picture of the US cover (which, in my opinion, is much better), so the picture above is the Australian cover instead!

Catwalk: Strike a Pose by Deborah Gregory (September 8, 2009)

Sashay, parlay! The design competition at Fashion International High School heats up as each design house struggles to produce its first--and hopefully award-winning--line. Tensions are cropping up in the House of Pashmina, and it's not clear whether Pashmina and her best friends will weather the runway. They'd better scramble if they want to win a real shot at a fashion career and an all-expenses-paid trip to Florence!

I'm definitely in the mood for a fun, fabulous, and light read, so I was excited to see the second book in the Catwalk series in my mailbox today! I have yet to read the first book, but if it's about fashion, friends, and travel, count me in!

The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore (September 8, 2009)

Sylvie Davis is a ballerina who can't dance. A broken leg ended her career, but Sylvie's pain runs deeper. What broke her heart was her father's death, and what's breaking her spirit is her mother's remarriage--a union that's only driven an even deeper wedge into their already tenuous relationship.

Uprooting her from her Manhattan apartment and shipping her to Alabama is her mother's solution for Sylvie's unhappiness. Her father's cousin is restoring a family home in a town rich with her family's history. And that's where things start to get shady. As it turns out, her family has a lot more history than Sylvie ever knew. More unnerving, though, are the two guys she can't stop thinking about. Shawn Maddox, the resident golden boy, seems to be perfect in every way. But Rhys--a handsome, mysterious foreign guest of her cousin's--has a gold on her that she doesn't quite understand.

Then she starts seeing things. Sylvie's lost nearly everything--is she starting to lose her mind as well?

Oooh, this sounds like a really cool, paranormal-type read. I haven't read anything else by this author, but I'd like to see what happens to Sylvie--and what the big mystery is!

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Thanks, mailbox! (:

The Writing on the Wall

Author: Wendy Lichtman

Pages: 240

Published: Greenwillow, July 2008

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Cover Score: B+

Overall Grade: A-

It's the second semester of eighth-grade, and algebra-loving Tess has more on her hands than ever. Richard the bully is out to get her, a strange new girl is acting pretty suspicious, and then there's the graffiti wall behind the school, where Tess finds mysterious messages in number codes that lead her to an arson within the school. But who did it, and were they purposefully meant for Tess? On top of it all, Tess is still trying to figure out her crush, Damien, and her best friends are disappointed in her danger-seeking behavior regarding the graffiti wall. Can Tess figure out the equation before it's too late?

My thoughts: When I read the first book in this promising new series, Secrets, Lies, and Algebra, I instantly loved all of the believable characters, realistic dialogue, and real-life situations that Tess and her friends found themselves in. The same applied to The Writing on the Wall. The plot was smooth, quick, flowing and easy to follow, and once again, I loved Tess. Her honesty, quirky personality, and great voice made the book so much more fun to read.

In fact, The Writing on the Wall was even better than the first book. The mystery and graffiti aspects made the story line more unique and capturing, and I loved seeing new characters in the plot. As well, I loved seeing some of the characters change in an apparent way.

Hopefully, there are more books in this series! Next time, I would like to see a longer plot with a few more twists, turns and red herrings to make the story a little more interesting and to make the book's surprise ending a little more shocking.

Overall, The Writing on the Wall is a book I'd easily recommend to middle-grade students, and I hope there's more adventures for Tess in the works!

Must-Read! Check it Out! Don't Bother

Cover Love (9)

Yay--it's week 9 of my latest feature, Cover Love! Each week, I find two covers of new, old, or upcoming YA, children's, or adult books that I love and post on Tuesday. This meme is open to anyone who wants to join--just remember to link back here to Bookworm Readers!

This week's picks are:

1) Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (October 13, 2009)

What's not to love? This cover is G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S! The lighting is so perfect, and the combination of the image and the spooky font is just so dramatic and eyecatching. I love how the title pops. This cover really makes me want to read the book (aside from the fact that it also sounds amazing, too!).

2) Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti (May 13, 2010)

I love the bright, cheery colors of this cover and how everything is positioned in the picture, including the title arch in a cool font. It makes the cover easy to look at and organized. I love covers that tell you what the story's about, so you can kind of get an idea of what's going to happen in the book, like this one. Overall, this cover gives off a light-and-funny vibe!

The Monday Muse: Interview with Lara Zielin

Today's Muse: Lara Zielin

Author of: Donut Days (review here)

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Bookworm: Welcome, Laura! So, tell us...what was your inspiration for your debut novel, Donut Days?

Lara: So, I read a review of Donut Days recently where the reviewer was really skeptical that donut camps actually existed. I think they found the plot hard to believe because, really, could people seriously love donuts that much?

But the answer is yes! Donut camps really, truly do exist (though I can't speak for the Easter bunny, tooth fairy, or were-chickens, unfortunately). After college, when I lived in Minnesota, the first Krispy Kreme opened in the state, and you'd think Brangelina had arrived and were handing out crisp $100 bills. Seriously, people were lined up for ages to get in. Many had camped out for days--in RVs, tents, or just out in the open. There was music, grilling, and it was a total party, especially when the media descended.

And that, truly, was the inspiration for Donut Days. Though much of the book's plot and characters have changed over time (and with re-writes), the central idea of the donut camp is the one things that's stayed consistent.

Bookworm: Were Emma's experiences in the evangelical church based off of your personal experiences?

Lara: Around the same time the donut camp popped up, I started attending what some people call a megachurch. If you don't know what a megachurch is, picture the church or synagogue or temple you grew up attending, add a thousand square feet, a hundred lights, a full band, some loudspeakers, some purple carpet, and about 2,000 people, and that's pretty much a megachurch.

Up until that point, I'd had some really good experiences in the church. The normal-sized church I'd gone to in my Wisconsin hometown had been seriously good to me. I'd really loved the pastor, his wife was fabulous, and I always felt that people really cared about me.

But in the megachurch, all the changed. Instead of focusing on helping others, we were encouraged to amass wealth. Instead of looking to change the world, we were told to conquer the world. But the worst of it was, you couldn't really question what came down from the pulpit. The pastor was infallible. His word was God's word, and you couldn't touch it. So instead of being introspective and engaging in conversations about what was coming to us from the pulpit, we were essentially told to believe it and not question it.

Ultimately, I realized I couldn't attend a church like that, and I left. But my experiences in that church became the basis for some of the congregants and events at Living Word Redeemer in Donut Days.

Overall, I think many teens--and I'd argue, people in general--who go to church have doubts about what they're seeing, about what they're being asked to believe. The process through which they figure it all out should be embraced, should be acknowledged. Instead, it's all too often labeled as doubt, and the person becomes a pariah. My great hope is that Donut Days encourages people to thoughtfully question what they believe, and why, and to remember that even if people suck, God doesn't have to.

Bookworm: What was your favorite character in the book to write about?

Lara: I love Emma, of course, but Bear and the Harley gang came to me the most easily. I can't always picture the characters in my head at first, when I begin to write them, but I could always picture Bear. I knew what he wore, what his struggles were, how he talked. It was pretty organic. And fun, because he's so quirky and unusual.

Bookworm: The title of your book is Donut Days. So...what's your favorite kind of donut?

Lara: That's like asking what my favorite kind of kitteh is. The answer is ALL OF THEM. But, okay, if I had to pick, I'd say powdered sugar. I mean, it's kind of boring, but I've never met one I didn't love.

Bookworm: Yum. What's next, writing-wise?

Lara: I just sold my second novel, Promgate, to Putnam, the same folks who published Donut Days. The book centers around the fallout when a pregnant teen is elected prom queen in a small Midwestern town. It's loosely based on events that happened in my Wisconsin high school when I was a sophomore, and it's due out in summer 2011.

Bookworm: Favorite thing to do on a weekend morning?

Lara: Have coffee with my husband in our home's "reading room" and catch up with him for a while. Inevitably, our dog, Amos, will invade the space and show us his tummy, and we'll probably stop talking for a little bit to scratch it.

Bookworm: Name a fabulous book that you've read lately.

Lara: I just finished American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld for my book club. It's not YA, but it was fabulous. It's fiction loosely based on the life of Laura Bush, and I was totally pulled into the story. The writing was outstanding. I also recently read The Season by Sarah MacLean, a YA romance, and about fell out of my chair it was so good. The setting, the dialogue, the characters--I SO didn't want it to end! More, Sarah, more!!!

Bookworm: What's your favorite '80s band (to tie into the '80s-band-shirt obsession of Emma's)?

Lara: Once again, see above: kittehs, favorites.

But, okay, I think I can narrow it down to two. I am obsessed with Big Country who wrote...Big Country. It might just be my fave song of all time--and possibly a one-hit wonder though I can't remember right now. And also I love, love, love Peter Gabriel. He was so awesome in the 1980s, but I love that he's been able to continue his career to the present day. Just last year he was nominated for an Oscar for the theme song to Wall-E. Go, Pete!

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And Go, Lara! Lara's debut novel, Donut Days, came out earlier this month and is in bookstores now!

Check out Lara's website here

In my Mailbox, Week in Review, and BBAW Nomination!

Whew. It's been a busy week: school starting, homework....I haven't had much time to read (or blog). I've basically been in a major book rut. Ugh.

This week, I got two books in my mailbox (meme created by the Story Siren):

The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline (Enola Holmes mystery) by Nancy

Springer

For Enola, longing for her absent mother and on the run from her older brothers, it is a fundamental fact of life that her name backwards spells alone. Her lonely London days include very few people except her landlady, Mrs. Tupper. Although nearly deaf and a truly dreadful cook, Mrs. Tupper is endearing--really the closest thing Enola has to family these days. So imagine her horror when she comes home to find Mrs. Tupper kidnapped! Who would take her, and why? And what does Florence Nightingale have to do with it? Is there more to the kind, homely Mrs. Tupper than meets the eye?

No matter what the risk, Enola will not rest until dear Mrs. Tupper is safe at home. And whoever took her had better watch out--because this time, it's personal.

I've read the whole series, and the last few books have been pretty eh, so I hope this one will be better! It looks great. I can't wait to start!

...I also got a repeat of (Re)Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin in the mail from Random House, so it's likely that I'll be giving it away in a contest...

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Here's what happened around my blog this week:

Monday-Author Julie Bowe stopped by for a guest blog about friendship and her best friend. I'm giving away a couple of signed copies of her latest book, My New Best Friend, along with a bunch of other books, so check it out here! The contest ends September 1st.

Tuesday-Cover Love time! This week, I was in a foodie mood and picked the covers of Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee and Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser.

Friday-I posted a double-review of Marley & Me. This post included a review of the book by John Grogran and a review of the movie!

Saturday-I announced the winners of my Coffeehouse Angel contest winners. Congrats, sharon54220 and What A Girl Reads!

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Also, I was recently notified via email that I was nominated for a BBAW (Book Blogger Appreciation Week) Award in the Best Commentor category. I am so honored, thank you so much!!!!

Coffeehouse Angel Contest Winners!

The results are in! First, thank you so much to all who entered and to Bloomsbury's Anna Dalziel, who made this contest happen! There were about 85 entries total, but there can only be two winners. And those two lucky people are....(drumroll, please).....

sharon54220 and What A Girl Reads!

Congratulations, guys! You have each won a copy of Suzanne Selfors' Coffeehouse Angel and some fun CA swag. I'll be emailing you shortly for your address so we can send out the goodies ASAP!

Also, if you are still in the contest-y mood, definitely check out my ongoing Lipstick Apology and BFFs contests. Both end on September 1st, so enter, enter, enter! Good luck!

Marley & Me Book and Movie Review

Author: John Grogan

Pages: 289

Published: HarperMemoir, 2005

Genre: Nonfiction memoir

Cover: Who can resist that adorable dog?

Overall Grade: A

John and Jenny Grogan, a young couple living peacefully in Florida and working as reporters, are used to a quiet life. Well, that was before Marley came along, a huge, 100-pound yellow Labrador Retriever that would change their lives forever, happily taking the role of World's Worst Dog. He would crash through screen doors, destroy drywall, drag his owners on walks, and joyfully eat anything in his reach. But he also changed their growing family for the better, and affected them all...

My thoughts: Marley & Me was an alternating combination of sweet, hilarious, and tear-jerking. John Grogan writes with humor and honesty, plunging you into his world and making for an enthralling, can't-put-this-book-down read. I loved Marley's antics, chronicled perfectly in chatty narration that made me feel like I was experiencing all of the situations first-hand. Certain passages had me laughing out loud, and the Grogan family itself was charming. I loved seeing how Marley really affected them as a whole.

This book, although a bit of a long read, was captivating from page one. The story flowed effortlessly, and I was so sad when it was over (for more than one reason). A must-read for all dog lovers, Marley & Me brings a smile to the readers' face. A lovely story for readers 14 and older.

Must-Read! Check it out Don't Bother

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Movie Review:

Rated: PG

Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston star in this film as John and Jenny Grogan, a young couple beginning a family, and owners of the infamous Marley, 100-pound Lab/household terrorist.

I absolutely adored the book, and most of the charm and magic of the book carried over into the movie. Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston were perfect as the Grogans, I felt like the casting couldn't have been better.

But I found that the movie cut out a lot of necessary material in the book, leaving the film feeling too short and a bit incomplete. Only about half of Marley's antics and the family's adventures were shown in the movie, and some of the funniest parts never made it into the film, which was especially disappointing. I would've liked to have seen longer scenes with about a half of an hour more of Marley action. More of the film was spent focused on the growth of the family.

Overall, I recommend this movie, but some fans of the book may be disappointed, as some of the best details of the novel didn't carry over into the film. Be sure to have a box of Kleenex close by!