The Story Siren Challenge

Born December 8
Mary, Queen of Scots
Teri Hatcher
Sammy Davis Jr
David Carradine
Kim Basinger
Sinead O'Connor

This year I'm participating in The Story Siren's Debut Author Contest.

The objective is to read 12 novels from authors debuting in Young Adult or Middle Grade between January 1, 2011 and December 31 of the same year.

Here's a list of books I intend to read from the US list on the website, in order of release. I think.

Julia Karr XVI
Beth Revis Across the Universe
Lorraine Zago Rosenthal Other Words for Love
Paige Harbison Here Lies Bridget
Any Holder Lipstick Laws
Chris Beam I am J.
Kirsten Hubbard Like Mandarin
Lisa & Laura Roecker Liar Society
Jesse Karp Those That Wake
Myra McEntire Hourglass
Vernica Roth Divergent
Elana Johnson Posession
Carrie Harris Bad Taste in Boys
Karsten Knight Wildefire
Medeia Sharif Bestest. Ramadan. Ever.
Elise Allen Populazzi
Victoria Schwab The Near Witch
Anna Staniszewski My un-fairytale life
Michelle Hodkin The Un-becoming of Mara Dyer

I was actually going ot read 13 of these anyhow. lol.

Oh, also, I spent the day sifting through ALL teen books being released in January and February on Amazon. There are only a few categories you can search on, so I had to wade through the non-fiction as well. (Although Amazon.uk doesn't include non-fic. Get with it, US Amazon!) Plus Amazon doesn't differentiate between new book and new edition. Shakespeare, Bronte, and Judy Blume are definitely NOT new.

But I know have like 6 pages of books to go check up on. :)

Oh, and in case you wondered, there are a little over 500 new editions being released for teens in January and February. Ah, the tortures I put myself through for love.

PS. There are lots of vampires. And titles like 'something, something and something-something' ( for example: Me, Myself and the Girl in the Mirror. No, that's not an actual title. ) I only read two months worth and I was already sick of the vamps and the comma titles. Editors and agents are superheroes!

(PS. December rocks. Ignore Joanna. :P lol. )

Here Lies Bridget- Review, giveaway, winner

The winner of If I Stay is...

JUDIT!

Judit, send me an email at muchlanguage (at) gmail (dot) com and confirm your address.

This week up for grabs, HERE LIES BRIDGET by Paige Harbison.



I discovered this book when I signed up for the
Story Siren Debut Author Challenge

Quick Summary:

"All I could think about was how sorryeveryone would be when they found out." That's what Bridget is thinking as she does fifty-five into a curve.

Bridget is queen of her little world. But when Anna Judge arrives at her high school, suddenly she's not so popular, the teachers don't fall over themselves to excuse her, and her stepmother doesn't let her walk all over her.

My one bad thing:

I mentioned this yesterday, in the setting post. Overselling your setting. Statements like, "We're supposed to enjoy drinking in high school," (not an exact quote) kept popping up. And it drew me out of the story and made me feel like the book was written by a 97 year old. Like I said, when you are a part of a group, you don't keep mentioning it unless you're talking to outsiders, or being purposely patriotic. Think about it, how many times a week do you say the name of your country?

My one good thing:

The mean girl who doesn't know she's mean. The personality theorist in me loves this! Mean ppl are a dime a dozen in teen literature. But they're always carefully calculating how to be evil. Bridget is calculating, that's for sure. But she doesn't realise that the things she does hurt others.

And that made it so real for me. Because there are people who set out to e evil for fun. But more often they're just painting the world with their own brush and don't notice that it's clashing with everyone else's.

Rules:
Open internationally
Followers only
Answer this question: If you had a friend who was mean to you, what would you do?


PS. Forgive me, I didn't mean to do two books on death in a row. It just happened that way. Looking for a happy book for next week. :)