Ch..Ch..Changes!

So, those of you still out there reading may have noticed I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. My research paper is very nearly finished. It's currently with my second reader, so within the month, I should have my Master's in Library Science. Awesome!! That's the main reason I didn't blog for oh-so-very long. It was just too much. I also stopped, because it ceased being fun. I still love to read and kept right on reading, but I needed a little break. So, no promises, but I'll do my best to keep on keepin' on with the blog.

One big change coming my way is that I'm switching school districts. I love the school I've been at for the past two years, but there were threats of cutting Media Specialists, and I need a job to keep myself in books. I sought employment elsewhere, and got the first job I interviewed for. Thanks goodness!! It's a great school, another elementary, in a neighboring district. It's more money, more chance for growth, and just a new exciting move.

My hope is to share some ideas on the blog when I start in the fall. Sometimes sharing ideas makes them happen.

Okay, so I'll blog as much as possible, except for about 10 glorious days in June when I will be in sunny Florida, basking in the awesomeness that is Disneyworld!!! Can't wait!!

See you all soon, I promise this time. :)

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

Release Date: Ummmm, yeah....this has been out since '83, but I'm just now hopping on board. Currently available from Atheneum.

Source: Personal Kindle Copy.

Synopsis:

"From now on I'm Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I'll be a knight."

And so young Alanna of Trebond begins the journey to knighthood. Alanna has always craved the adventure and daring allowed only for boys; her twin brother, Thom, yearns to learn the art of magic. So one day they decide to switch places: Disguised as a girl, Thom heads for the convent; Alanna, pretending to be a boy, is on her way to the castle of King Roald to begin her training as a page. But the road to knighthood is not an easy one. As Alanna masters the skills necessary for battle, she must also learn to control her heart and to discern her enemies from her allies. Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna's first adventure begins -- one that will lead to the fulfillment of her dreams and make her a legend in the land.

I'm a little late hopping on the Tamora Pierce bandwagon and I'm not sure what finally made me decide to read her books, but I started at the beginning. My first foray into the world of Tortall was Alanna, book one in the Song of the Lioness quartet.

I've never considered myself a fantasy fan, although I don't know why, because I've read my fair share. This book, though, captured me from the very beginning and made me wonder why I waited so long. The character of Alanna really made this book for me. She's so strong and self-assured and yet has some of the same fears and faults that we all do. She's incredibly likable, because I saw in her some of the courage that I wish I'd had at that age, and really, that I wish I had now.

Pierce's world is flawless. Everything just moves so smoothly from page to page, chapter to chapter, and before I knew it, the book was done and I was hungry for more. I finished all four books and each one instantly became my favorite.

If you haven't read the Song of the Lioness books, I urge you to do so. Even if you don't consider yourself a fantasy fan, this book would appeal simply because of the beautiful writing and the masterful characterization. And Alanna totally kicks ass!

Check it out!!

Waiting on Wednesday (79)--Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Release Date: May 24, 2011 from Scholastic Press

Synopsis:

From bestselling, Printz Award-winning author Libba Bray comes the story of a plane of beauty pageant contestants that crashes on a desert island.

Teen beauty queens. A Lost-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to emall. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.

What's not to love?! I can't wait for this one!!

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

Release Date: Available Now from HarperTeen

Source: Personal Copy

Synopsis:
My name is Chloe Saunders. I'm fifteen, and I would love to be normal.

But normal is one thing I'm not.

For one thing, I'm having these feelings for a certain antisocial werewolf and his sweet-tempered brother—who just happens to be a sorcerer—but, between you and me, I'm leaning toward the werewolf.

Not normal.

My friends and I are also on the run from an evil corporation that wants to get rid of us—permanently.

Definitely not normal.

And finally, I'm a genetically altered necro-mancer who can raise the dead, rotting corpses and all, without even trying.

As far away from normal as it gets.

When Armstrong's new book The Gathering came out recently, I was reminded that I'd never finished the Darkest Powers trilogy. I had to search my bookshelf to find it again, but it was worth the hunt.

I'm a big Kelley Armstrong fan. I love her adult Otherworld books, but I think her YA works are my favorites. It's everything I love about the Otherworld, but even more fast-paced and fun. Chloe is awesome and while I love her character, what I love even more is that this isn't just Chloe's story. I found myself just as interested in the other characters as I was with what would happen to her. Derek and Simon are fabulous, too. Their story is so intertwined with Chloe's that you can't have one without the other. That's what I love so much about Armstrong. She's a master of characterization. She paints such realistic portraits of characters that don't exist in our world, but it feels like they could and should.

This is a great end to the series, although I feel like there's still a lot of story left to tell. I haven't read The Gathering yet, but after finishing this one it's moving up in my list. I'm interested to see where this new series takes us and I'd love to see a return to the storyline of Chloe, Simon, Derek, and Tori. Here's hoping we'll see more of them in the future.

If you haven't read any Kelley Armstrong books....well, what are you waiting for?!

Release Date: Available Now from Katherine Tegen Books

Source: From Publisher

Synopsis:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

I was completely blown away by this book. I had heard all of the hype from various sources comparing it the The Hunger Games, so when I got the book in the mail, I was almost weary of reading it. I didn't want to be disappointed, nor did I want to read a carbon copy of Hunger Games. I'm so happy that I gave Divergent a chance.

It's a beautifully written book, first of all. Roth has created such a vivid dystopian landscape that while reading it, I almost expected to wake up and have to choose my faction. From page one I was drawn into the world she'd created and into the life of Tris. Tris is such a fantastic character and it was amazing to see her grow as she works her way through this whole new experience. As the reader, I just wanted so much to see her succeed and I almost wanted to jump in there and start working alongside her.

I love dystopias and with so many coming out on the market, it is hard to find an original idea and to create an original world, but Roth has done that and more. Will there be comparisons to The Hunger Games? Of course, and there were moments when I was reminded of Katniss, but this book is so much more than that. I can't wait for the next book in the series. Tris' world is dark, violent, and more than a little scary, but I would gladly return there again and again.

A Visit From Alexander Gordon Smith, Author of Lockdown and Solitary

A Ghost in the Cell

Hi Carrie, thanks so much for letting me write a guest post for your blog! As this is my first guest post on my blog tour, I wanted to talk a little about the main character, Alex, and the experience of being locked away inside Furnace Penitentiary with him. It was an incredible, life-changing time for both of us.

Alex existed inside my head long before the idea of Furnace came about. He’s me, in so many ways – the me that might have been if I’d taken a few more wrong turns as a teenager. I still think, sometimes, that Alex is a version of me that might actually exist in a different universe. This is why I’m so close to him – we’re twins, inter-dimensional brothers! I wasn’t exactly a bad kid, but I did steal stuff and hang out in biker bars and get into fights. Luckily I had a great family, and they pulled me free before it got out of hand. But the character of Alex stuck around inside my head, the teenage me who didn’t get rescued.

The idea of Furnace grew out of this character, this version of me. I wanted to write a horror story, something genuinely terrifying, and I was struggling to think of an idea that really worked. But Alex was still in my head. Whereas I’d grown up – I was twenty-eight when I started Lockdown – he was still a teenager. He hadn’t had the opportunity to play out his story, to see where his life would lead. I kept thinking about him, this teenager that was locked inside the purgatory of my mind, and eventually I realized that Alex wanted to tell his story. He needed to tell it. As soon as I understood this, the entire book – the prison and the terrible things that happen there – just appeared, almost fully formed. I had my horror story. I’d had it all along.

I started writing. It was incredible, really, as it genuinely felt as though Alex was telling the story and I was merely transcribing it. He was so real to me – a living, breathing person – that all I could do was capture what he was saying. Sometimes it felt like I couldn’t write fast enough to even do that, his voice a torrent, like he’d been waiting to tell this story for so long. It didn’t seem to matter that it was such a brutal sequence of events, that every page brought new horrors. I think the character was just grateful to finally be allowed to live his life, to see where it would lead him.

Like I said, though, it was a life-changing experience for both of us. Not long after I’d started writing, I suffered a personal tragedy. Anyone who’s read the dedication in Lockdown will have an idea of what it was. It was a really, really dark time, the worst in my life. I threw myself into the book as a way of coping with it, a way of forgetting.

I genuinely felt like I was imprisoned inside Furnace Penitentiary, locked away a mile beneath the ground in this hellhole. Like Alex, I had no way out, no way to escape this nightmare. We were both sentenced to rot at the very bottom of the world. I knew that if Alex didn’t find a way out of Furnace, then I’d never get out of this dark place in my own life. We needed each other. We couldn’t survive this alone. I think – I hope – that’s why the book feels so real: because Alex’s terror and confusion and pain and hopelessness were my terror and confusion and pain and hopelessness. It was completely and utterly real to me when I was writing. This is also why the friendships in the book are so important, so powerful. Because I was there, a ghost in the cell, relying on Donovan and Zee and Toby to keep me sane just as much as Alex was. If those guys hadn’t been in Furnace, I don’t know what would have happened to Alex and I don’t know what would have happened to me.

Writing Lockdown helped me get through this tragedy. It helped me to escape. And Alex? Well, I can’t say what happens to him at the end of the book, or the end of the series – I don’t want to give anything away! But I’m so glad he stayed in my head all those years, so glad he wanted to tell his story. Without him, I’d still be inside Furnace, I’d still be a ghost in that cell.



Wow!! Thanks for the awesome guest post! I'm honored to have you visit my blog. Now what are you waiting for reader?! Go pick up Lockdown and Solitary and get reading!

Waiting on Wednesday (78) --The Monday Edition: Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Release Date: February 8, 2011 from Simon Pulse

Synopsis:

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.

I loved Lisa McMann's previous books, so I absolutely cannot wait for this one. It's already a Kindle pre-order.